Musing Miko
by Fearless miko
Summary: Is Kagome just a powerful miko? What if there's more to her than meets the eye? Rated M for lemons and violence. First Sess/Kag lemon in Chapter 25, 'Claimed.'
1. Musing Miko, Pilot

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha _

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Kagome was enjoying another sunset in Sengoku Jidai, her legs submerged in the hot waters of a spring located close to Inuyasha's forest and the Bone Eater's Well. She had finished bathing and was now slowly brushing out the tangles in her hair while she stared out into the vibrant colors of the sunset, seeing, but not really seeing anything at all.

She was comfortable with the warm humidity and her thin clothing, now a simple white horai and dark blue hakama opposed to her old school uniform. Comfortable with the grassy breeze gently blowing her raven locks dry. Every scent that hit her nose and sight before her eyes was comfortable because she _knew_ this place.

This was Inuyasha's forest, the place where her new life had begun.

She closed her eyes and began to breathe in sync with the earth. She imagined herself reaching out to every rock, every blowing leaf and singing bird, caressing and nurturing the life around her with her aura. She was the searching roots beneath her feet, striving towards water, the hissing, tall blades of grass as they swished in the wind and sun, the water swirling alive around her legs. A delighted sigh escaped her lips as her consciousness seemed to fade out of her body completely and into the warm soil.

So was so _comfortable_.

Destiny, Fate, call it whatever you want- Kagome could not deny that her life tread upon some uneven path. Her own feet clumsily clicking into place on a long forgotten track filled with violence, grief, death, pain, and horror beyond most people's wildest imaginations.

But also, the deepest bonds of friendship, unwavering faith and trust in new allies, and the furious desire to protect beyond the consequences of a mortal life, who you love from danger.

Everything she was today, the woman she had become, the power she had honed; all this, she owed to this time, this place, these people, this destiny. She loved her life, was not resigned but overwhelmingly thankful that she was not just anybody. Special, not like other people but something more. Somebody that could make a difference, someone that could help fight back against the tragedy and chaos in this world.

The gory tests of strength, striving for their lives and the lives of others on a daily basis, inadvertently succeeded in unlocking confidence, growth and an overall understanding of everyone's abilities in the never ending fight to complete the Shikon jewel.

Somewhere along the road in their own separate experiences, everyone fighting for the light of the jewel had unlocked hidden potentials and power in themselves; after all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?

The old tachi had evolved into something more advanced and every day they were pushed, dragged, hurdled to stronger parts of themselves they have no choice but to discover if they wished to survive the cruel, sometimes tragic life of Sengoku Jidai.

Her thoughts stretched out with respect and admiration to that of Lord Sesshomaru. He and Inuyasha had grown in the most unexpected, eerily similar ways, though neither would admit it, she thought with a smirk. Inuyasha began to bond with people again after trusting Kagome and facing his feelings for her.

Sesshomaru resurrected the girl, Rin, after she was dismembered by wolves. She followed him everywhere and he protected her fiercely, regarding her as one of his own.

Both allowed their emotions to surface when facing the desire to protect humans; thus both learned to have a compassionate heart when dispatching their enemies and are now exponentially more powerful because of it.

Kagome blinked at the last thought and picked up the forgotten brush she had dropped in her lap in her day dreaming.

She tugged the brush slowly, working her way up from the tips by feel alone. Her raven black tresses glistened with moisture from the spring and dripped onto the warm soil beside her soundlessly as her thoughts took her back to the beginning, back to the first real change in her life. On that day, the day she was pulled through the well, her lifestyle, personality and character took a sharp turn from their current course. One minute, she was a regular teenage girl, going to school and coming home to a normal family, give or take a few oddities.

She was fifteen when she made her first trip through the well, to 500 year in the past and freed Inuyasha from the Sacred Tree. Five years had passed since then and Kagome had grown to become a powerful priestess, one that had no need of Feudal practices and rituals. In the modern era, one could learn to harness holy powers like her's by simply loading an internet search page. She had researched all types of magicks, spells, rituals, invocations and exorcisms. She had memorized the symbols for every type of rune known to the written word along with every symbol used for protection by every nationality her sources could provide. Unlike here in the Feudal Era, witchcraft and its practice were not banned by the authorities so she had been able to learn all kinds and variations not limited to priestess tradition. She had studied religious practices from every part of the globe from ancient times to present and with that kind of knowledge at her fingertips, her powers had exceeded the expectations of everyone that knew her in this time, including Naraku.

She smirked darkly then, amusement plain on her face as she thought back to that day. She found it ironic that after all the abilities she had worked so hard to obtain, a simple arrow of sealing was all it took to take the vile half demon down for good.

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AN: Reviews are my fuel :D


	2. Vision

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome stopped dead on her way to the fire, pots in hand. Her head tilted to the side as she stared at nothing in front of her curiously.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango called her worriedly, reaching out for her arm in the distance between them. No reaction.

"Kagome-chan? Kagome-chan!" she tried more frantically, calling the attention of the group as she tried to shake their companion back to reality to no avail.

Inuyasha jumped down from his branch above them at the first call and made it to Kagome's side right as Sango's tone became frantic.

"Kagome?" he called to her softly, his heart sinking at the lack of reaction in her eyes. He inhaled her scent carefully and cursed. It had weakened instantly, making it seem like she wasn't even there.

Suddenly her expression twisted into horror and then, shock. Her face went pale as her mouth fell open, her chin quivering in terror. The lids of her eyes remained shut while the orbs themselves danced beneath the skin, darting to this direction and that.

Inuyasha didn't know what else to do, it just seemed like all he could do. His arms went around her from behind and he sat them both down in the grass, her back leaning up against his chest. She did nothing to stop him but her terrified expression did not change.

Miroku pulled back her eye lids, noting that they had rolled back into her head. Her hands fisted in Inuyasha's robe of the fire rat, red fabric bright against her white knuckles. Tremors wracked her body and her face contorted in silent agony.

"Come back, Kagome. Come back," he whispered, rocking her back and forth, hoping to coax her back into reality.

Miroku chanted prayers for his friend above them while Sango and Shippo looked on in helpless fear.

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Naraku lazily watched the pawns on the chessboard move with barely concealed interest. A scowl suppressed the desire to smirk manically but he could not contain the delicious anticipation he felt. He watched the miko's lapse into terror and smirked, knowing his plan would not fail him this time.

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She found herself standing in the middle of a wooded glen, right out in the open and frozen stupidly to one spot just waiting for anyone- or demon- to come and pick her off. She immediately ducked for cover in the shade of a large tree when she felt something was off. Looking around, she found it to be none other than herself, as her hands and arms, as well as the rest of her body, was see-through. Her feet did not make impressions on the ground, not even when she tried to kick at it furiously.

With a gulp, she fought back the urge to panic. _'Ok, I'm dreaming or..something. Astral Projecting, read about that quite a bit. This fits the script.'_ Being able to explain it in some context always seemed to comfort her.

Deciding the world was not of her own making as the surroundings were a far cry from her typical dream-scape, she wondered whose mind it came from and what message they were trying to convey.

Her thoughts ended at the sound of a little girl singing back where she'd appeared. She was obviously in her own head, Kagome thought with a knowing smirk, as she dazedly picked flowers and sang to herself, oblivious to the danger she was in. She seemed well looked after, with her beautiful kimono and pretty black hair tied with silk ribbons. She couldn't have been no more than 5 or 6 at the most and Kagome knew the woods in this time were no place for children to roam unattended, if at all.

She called out to the girl, trying to catch her attention. "Hey! Excuse me! Little girl?" she called but the child did not look up or give any sign she'd heard her in any way.

"That's weird, she didn't hear me at all!" Kagome remarked to herself, feeling more than a little intimidated.

The girl suddenly jumped at the sound of a whine, along with Kagome, who hadn't sensed a presence since her initial appearance. She watched, fearing the worst as the girl edged closer to a spot covered by tall weeds and grass.

She raced to the her side in order to see the creature from over her shoulder, throwing caution to the wind to sate her curiosity.

"Oh, no! Are you hurt?" the girl called worriedly to the spot, receiving an answering whine.

Kagome bent over to find a tiny wolf demon pup no more than a few years old lying in the grass and bleeding helplessly from a wound on his leg. She'd never seen a sight so pitiful and her own heart clenched in pity for the poor, fragile thing.

"It's ok!" the little girl soothed the wolf pup. "I'll wrap up your leg and you'll feel better!" she promised him brightly. She ripped a strip of her kimono off and began wrapping the toddler's leg, tight enough to stop the bleeding.

Kagome was warmed by her countenance and found her helpful, bright personality to be like Rin's, Sesshomaru's ward. She was even picking flowers as she'd seen Rin do a thousand times. The similarity struck her immediately and would not escape her mind.

As the girl tended to the infant wolf, Kagome began to sense a powerful aura headed in their direction. As her senses probed the aura, she was engulfed with the intensity of its rage and feared, suddenly, for what she was about to see as it was moving at incredible speed straight towards them.

The clearing was silent for the next second as both the girl and wolf pup had frozen, each having felt the thickening in the atmosphere on instinct.

A dust cloud exploded into the clearing, knocking the girl over on top of the infant to protect him with the blast, as a fully enraged wolf demon snarled menacingly above them.

_'Oh no!'_ Kagome thought to herself. _'He's enraged from the smell of his pup's blood on her, his beast will kill her without realizing her innocence in his blood rage!'_

Before her panic even had time to set in, the enraged father had slashed at the girl's neck, sending her head rolling across the forest floor in a cascade of blood.

Kagome felt the blood drain from her own face, replaced by a long wave of shivering cold as she stared down at the little girl's frightened face, perpetually frozen in that horrible expression. The remains of her body lay at her feet, crumpled on the ground at a sick angle.

The infant wailed in sheer horror and Kagome screamed along with him as the red slowly left the wolf demon's eyes to be replaced with sky blue. He blinked at the sky a few times and then stared down at the mess before him, his features void of any emotion.

Then, just for an instant and so fast that Kagome wondered if she'd seen it at all: Regret. Shame. They flashed across his features like a flashlight being turned on and off. Just like that, his face snapped back to stone and with no more thought, he scooped up his screaming son and fled the scene, leaving the girl's remains to rot on the forest floor.

_'No, not Koga,'_ she thought, _'But someone closely related...'_

Her mind tried to process the information. She cried for the little girl, for the wolf pup and for the father who she knew, having seen his pain in that instant, would remember his lapse of control for the rest of his life.

The last vestiges of shock were just beginning to wear off when the scene changed. Kagome was instantly aware of two things: One, that this was the same glen she'd just left and two, that a significant amount of time had passed since then. The forest was thicker, the trees older. The clearing was no more and all that remained was a narrow trail of the grove like setting she'd only just departed from. She also had a sense that she was closer to the present time now. Unable to explain the sensation, Kagome trusted the strange intuition, having trained herself to accept these occasional moments of wisdom.

But unlike last time, the area did not seem innocent. In place of the vibrant cheerfulness was an ominous foreboding and another sensation she could as of yet not identify, nagging at her senses. She could feel the answer being withheld from her some how but she hadn't the means to figure out who or why.

A distant cry. The sounds of shouting from behind her made her spin around on the spot. There was a shuffling sound, feet tearing across the ground, growling, snarling, barking. _ 'Wolves,'_ her mind supplied the mental image as she realized a pack must be headed her way. The sounds grew louder and then she could see them running down the path towards her. They were chasing _after_ something.

Kagome felt the blood drain from her face again as the sight of Rin's tear-stained face came into view, sobbing, coughing, crying, reaching out with her one had for something as if her salvation her just out of reach and trying to flee for her life.

Her hand came up to her face to cover her mouth, which had fallen open in horror. She could not do anything to save her.

The pack was gaining on her. Kagome knew she would not survive. Just as Rin had reached her position by the old oak tree, they caught her, one after the other, in their jaws. She knew she would never, ever forget the look of surprise and shock on Rin's face as the first one bit down, followed by the next. Her little arm never stopped reaching out and she died in that position without so much as a scream.

Shock left her trembling and sobbing against the tree. A loud whistle made her jump, followed by a deep, booming voice she recognized calling his 'boys' home. _'Koga, you are so dead.'_

Movement out of her peripheral had her turning her head to see a tall and glaring figure in stark white approaching them with an imp at his side. She watched as they stopped before Rin and she gasped in understanding when Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga.

Her heart clenched when she watched him take the girl into his arm and saw his shock of surprise when she opened her eyes, brought back to the land of the living. Kagome felt the tears pouring down her cheeks at the affection she found there in that brief moment and she felt she finally understood his relationship with the human girl.

The scene faded, her senses spun and blurred while the scene re-formed, the same location only more time had passed. A different season as well, apparently, as the forest was full of bright green. It was the same season they were in currently.

She could hear a distant thudding sound coming closer and as it neared, more clearly came the sound of a little girl singing.

"Rin," she called helplessly, now even more afraid than before of what she might see.

Sure enough, Ah-Un walked into the clearing carrying a singing, happy Rin with the usual angry Jaken in tow.

As they neared the middle of the clearing, Kagome got a tickling sensation at her backside and turned swiftly to see the iridescent form of the little girl before, this time with an expression of terrible sadness, gazing at Rin with jealousy, longing and loneliness. Her heart clenched in recognition as she realized she'd seen Kikyo give her that look a thousand times and knew no good could possibly come of the spirit's apparent attraction to Rin. The resolve and hallow selfishness a wandering spirit can amass given decades of time to smolder the ashes of long forgotten emotions and feelings can result in the worst of outcomes, Kagome knew.

Jaken and Ah-Un could not see the spirit at all and it was not clear whether Rin was paying attention enough to notice as Ah-Un unknowingly drew closer and closer to the wayward spirit, bringing Rin directly within her reach.

_'Where is Sesshomaru?'_ she thought, expecting him to crash through the foliage at any second and save the day. As the spirit neared the child, Kagome got a better look and found, to her shock, what the she'd been hiding from her.

Nearly half the tainted Shikon no Tama was embedded in her chest.

"Naraku..." Kagome whispered, understanding. Still, she watched the scene unfold, to confirm her fears. Sure enough, the spirit advanced and took hold of Rin's soul, pulling it free of her body with little effort, a feat impossible for a common spirit.

Rin instantly stopped singing and Ah-Un immediately stopped walking, both heads turning round to inspect the girl, who had fallen still and silent.

Her eyes were void and blank.

"Annoying human! What's wrong with you now, child?" Jaken barked at her. A moment of silence passed where even the sounds of the forest seemed to give pause as Kagome shuddered knowingly.

"Answer me you wretched girl!" he screamed again.

Rin began to drool on herself.

"Rin? This isn't funny, I'll tell Lord Sesshomaru on you!" he threatened. That one always worked.

But there was no reaction.

Kagome's attention was on the two souls in the clearing that only she could see. The doomed soul of the little girl who held the form of Rin, her eyes closed to spiritual exhaustion.

Her resistance was simply no match for half of a tainted jewel. She knew she had to help, had to save Rin and hopefully, the soul of the murdered little girl, too. She knew in her heart that she would risk everything for the chance that one or both of them be saved and tried to be ok with the consequences that could very well bring.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	3. Mission

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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"J-jewel...shard."

"Kagome-ni-chan! Kaede-ba-chan, she's awake!" came Sango's frantic call as she heard her friend's first words in two days.

Inuyasha was the first to make it in the hut at Sango's announcement. He watched closely from the sidelines as Kaede slowly got Kagome to take a few pulls of warm tea, the first water she'd had since falling unconscious.

Her heartbeat was beating in her ears, deafening, accompanied in rhythm to the strong pull of the Shikon close by. She deftly swallowed another sip of water and slowly sat up, allowing herself time to adjust to supporting herself, batting away Sango and Kaede's attempts at helping.

"Jewel shard. There's a jewel shard nearby, a big one. It's in this little girl's spirit, we have to go now!" she demanded.

Sango immediately disagreed, her motherly instincts in full gear. "Kagome, no. You're in no condition to be going into battle. Stay here with Inuyasha and Miroku and I will investigate whatever-"

"No, you don't understand," Kagome interrupted her apologetically. "I'm sorry Sango but I have to be there, I'm the only one that can. You can't sense the jewel and I've had to lay a ghost to rest before." She turned to Kaede with a pleading look.

The old priestess knew immediately what the younger asked for and motioned for Sango and Inuyasha to step back.

She stood before Kagome, her palms outstretched and closed her eyes. After a moment of chanting, her hands began to glow white and in another second, Kagome had been blasted with a spark of Reikei from the old woman's fingertips.

It merged with Kagome's chest and seemed to catch flame within her, white hot flames that grew swiftly into a blinding light and just as quickly faded, leaving her looking fresh and energized.

She stood with no problem and slung her bow over her shoulder, ignoring the incredulous looks from her friends and chose instead to take Kaede into bear hug.

"Thank you so much, Kaede-ba-chan, I won't forget this," she promised and as an after thought, transferred some of her regenerated power to the old miko.

With a smile, she headed out the door, without waiting for her friends.

Back in the hut, Sango was the first to recover. "What in kami's name just happened?" she breathed beside Miroku, who seemed equally in awe.

Inuyasha stormed after Kagome as Kaede continued about the hut as though she'd simply had tea with a fellow neighbor.

"I-I'm not sure," Miroku drawled, staring at the priestess with a look of awe and intense concentration.

Kaede huffed at their attention. "I simply gave Kagome's powers a jump start off mine. She was very drained from her ordeal. I donated a spark to her kindling and allowed her powers to regenerate themselves, which is something I would only do if it was an emergency. She hasn't eaten and she doesn't have time to but she needs the energy, end of story. Now onward! Kagome is waiting. Best be on your guard." She practically shooed them out the door.

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Meanwhile, in a forested glen deep in the Western lands, Sesshomaru held his retainer by his throat, barely containing the acid from his poisonous claws. He was pissed.

"This is the very spot, here, my lord! I swear it!" the imp strained out. With a thud, he'd been thrown harshly against the forest floor.

Sesshomaru was...frustrated. He'd returned to find his ward unresponsive and upon his retainer's explanation of the events that transpired, had demanded he take him to the very spot her condition relapsed.

As soon as he'd stepped foot in the clearing his nostrils had flared to the stench of Naraku and in his sudden rage he had taken it out on his retainer, as it was his weak nature that allowed the plot to be carried out undetected. As his frustration grew instead, however, he knew he had only his person to blame for not being there to protect her himself.

He turned to observe her condition on Ah-Un to find, again, no change. A flash of fleeting emotion softened his face for an instant before dissolving into stone indifference.

His golden eyes hardened as they scanned the area, scenting it further. Another incarnation of Naraku? No. But certainly his stench was involved. A familiar magic resonated on the wind, a magic he attributed solely to that ridiculous, tainted little trinket his brother and followers were after.

Once again, the vile half demon had managed to kidnap his ward right from under him. The claws of his right hand began to glow bright green before he contained it with a closed fist. He would save her and kill that pathetic excuse for a demon known as Naraku.

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As they were nearing their destination, Inuyasha turned to Kagome sharply, surprise and concern written across his features.

"Kagome, you sure this is the way to the jewel shard?"

"Yea, positive," she answered immediately. "Why?"

"Because Sesshomaru is just up ahead, too."

Kagome didn't respond. She had known that was a distinct, even probable possibility, there just wasn't time to go over everything before setting out. Her heart fluttered despite her resolve to act. There was no way to tell how Sesshomaru would respond. Deep down, she had a sneaking suspicion he was incapable of dishonorable actions but on the outside, she had to be ready for anything.

She was meant to help. Why else would she have received such a powerful vision before sensing the shard? And what did the spirit intend to do with Rin's soul? Was she just lonely, did she just want a friend or did she desire Rin's lifeforce?

She remembered then something Kikyo once said to her.

_"The dead have but one wish, to walk amongst the living once more."_

It was true. But then, the Kikyo that said those words was not the Kikyo she knew today. She knew Kikyo had changed and her desires now reflected more closely to those of Kagome's. Everyone wanted to kill Naraku.

"So the dead can have more than one wish," she muttered incoherently to herself.

"What's that?" Inuyasha asked.

"Nothing."

"We're here," Inuyasha's hushed announcement reached her ears just as she felt his descent. It was like going over a hill in a car really fast, how your belly flies up and your head spins... Kagome held on for dear life as they neared the ground.

"Inuyasha." Sesshomaru addressed his younger brother with a cold monotone. There was none of the usual baiting but no less venom.

"Sesshomaru," Inuyasha spat his response, hand on the hilt of Tetsusaiga.

"Please," Kagome called softly but firmly so all would hear. "I'm here to help Rin," she tried to explain quickly hoping to diffuse the situation.

At the mention of that name, however, she felt rather than saw sharp amber eyes narrow on her and in the blink of an eye he had flash stepped behind her, his blade poised intimately with her throat, trapping her against him.

She froze. The blade hummed against her flesh, red waves just aching to taste blood and her aura thrashed wildly at the evil it sensed in Tokijin as well as the unbridled fury she felt swimming just below the surface of Sesshomaru's control. His hand was so steady and still. The fear was like ice in her stomach, knowing that if she so much as swallowed the edge would break her skin.

Inuyasha growled threateningly and drew Tetsusaiga swiftly, the narrow edge of the sharpened metal glinting with promise in the sun. "Let her go, you bastard, she's just trying to help!" he screamed in outrage, pointing the blade inches from his brother's face.

Sesshomaru took no notice of his brother. He took a long draw from the miko's scent, inspecting it carefully for any deception. Finding none, he withdrew the blade slowly, scanning the her terrified face.

"What do you know of my ward's condition?" he asked her curtly, his eyes practically daring her to lie.

Kagome understood then that it was his blood rage. He was very close to loosing control, just like the wolf demon father that slew the first little girl in her vision. Rin was like his daughter but Sesshomaru was stronger than the wolf, able to stave off the need for bloodshed but just barely. She fought to quickly recover from her shock to placate him with whatever answers she could provide.

"Please, I think I know what's happening to her. I had a vision two days ago, I saw what happened. And I sense the jewel nearby. If we find the jewel, we save Rin."

His expression was cold and deadly. "Explain."

Kagome forced herself to be patient as she discussed every last detail of her dream. "I can see ghosts," she explained lastly. "I freed one before, with Inuyasha."

Sesshomaru glanced at his younger brother, who nodded as if to confirm her words. He then fixed his attention back on her.

"Where do you sense the jewel right now?" he demanded of her.

"That wa-wooooooahhh!" she squealed as Sesshomaru had suddenly lunged, taking her by the waist to the sky and barreling in the direction she was pointing at the speed of what Kagome felt was faster than the speed of light itself!

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	4. Exposing Dilemma

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Sesshomaru flew in the direction the miko pointed, her tachi following closely behind. The fact that his brother and the following group were ready to fight him for taking the miko was irrelevant; all that mattered was that he save his ward. Her scent had already faded dramatically by the time they had arrived and although he knew it unwise to trust the word of an uneasy ally, as all his instincts urged caution, he also knew from another instinct that she wasn't lying. He could smell the sincerity off her even now, her determination to set things right.

Puzzling. _'At least she isn't wearing that indecent outfit,'_ he thought to himself, observing her new state of dress. Long, dark blue hakamas as wide as his own, billowing in the wind to mix with his own white silk. The horai was white and tied with a simple white obi in the front while her hair, having grown to her mid back, was gathered in a high pony tail with loose tendrils framing her heart-shaped face in the wind. He recognized the outfit as miko apparel, very similar to that of the dead priestess. Only the hakamas were dark blue, not red, and her horai seemed smaller, more capable of showing off her form.

Her bow was slung across her back, currently pressed against his armor while her quiver of arrows stuck out to his right side. His arm held her around the waist to his hip. He could smell her anxiety about their current altitude and noted that she made a valiant effort to ignore the sensation and focus on the pull of the shard. The fact that she had not cried out to be 'put down' or 'let go of' was a mark in her maturity, as well. She knew the situation was serious

In another setting, perhaps he'd find himself impressed with her ability to concern herself with matters that did not include her person. But there was no time for that. There was only time for Rin and he would see to it that she was saved.

"Down there!" Kagome pointed to a spot on the forest floor where the old, charred remains of a hut were slowly being overgrown with vines and weeds as time began to eat away the evidence whole.

There was a girl in the clearing where the front yard would be, watching them descend with a look of mild expectation.

"Oh, no! Rin!" Kagome called, pointing to the ground at the girl's feet.

Sesshomaru looked in the direction the girl was pointing, seeing only ground. There was nothing there but for the strange, human child, at least, not that his eyes could see.

As if to answer his befuddlement, the child spoke to him with laughter in her voice and cold, calculating eyes. "No, there is only me, Rei," she supplied politely.

As soon as they'd landed, Kagome began concentrating on pouring some of her Reikei into the palm of her hands and molding it into a powerful ball. She could barely see Rin's soul at the girl's feet, crumpled in exhaustion and she could see the the jewel acting as a conduit for the transfer of energy. The girl was taking Rin's life force and giving it to herself, using the power of the Shikon to make up the difference. Rin's aura was already barely discernible, if she wasted any time it would already be too late. She closed her eyes and believed her efforts would be enough and as she overcame her doubt, so did her eyes spring open as her hands expelled their contents forcefully at Rin's soul.

Sesshomaru was about to address the ghost-child before him when he felt the sudden build up of energy coming from behind. His usually calm eyes sprang wide with astonishment. The moment he was aware of it, however, he _felt_ rather than _saw_ the blast fly dangerously close to his face toward the ground in front of the human child. A white streak, momentarily blinding him with its light had sailed right past his left ear and swiftly to its target, causing his own aura to spike defensively. The downright potency of the blow could have the potential to wipe out any opposing demonic army in a single stroke and had left a brilliant tingle of warning racing across his skin. Then the purity subsided but it had an unexpected after taste he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Recognizing the source of this power, however, only brought on more confusion and concern for the expression she was giving not to him but to the girl across the clearing. He was not used to _this_ expression. This was not doe-eyed or horrified, screechy girl on the sidelines making a fool of herself. She had abandoned, it seemed, her wounded expression for a look of undeniable Alpha in pack standards that promised the possibility of your complete demise.

Kagome felt the fury building and tried to calm herself as she concentrated on pouring her power into Rin, strengthening the tether that bound her to this world. Her emotions were a roiling cauldron after all she had seen in such a short time and her powers twitched and swelled in response, instinctively coming to her aid. She knew it would not be long before she could no longer contain them. It was almost time for her periodic release, after all. She had planned to go back and restock on supplies the day the vision took hold of her and was in too much of a rush to consider it before. Normally she released in her time on the other side of the well where no one would be accidentally hurt and try to attack her but there was no helping it now. Timing was everything at this point. Her only choice was to hold out until the right moment so that no one else would be caught up in the blast.

She understood. The wolf killed Rei, the wolves killed Rin. Rin was lucky enough to have a second chance at life and Rei had seen it all. Filled with anger at the unfairness of it all, her soul had darkened and she was beyond words now. Retribution had to happen swiftly or she would not be able to save Rin. She gazed steadily at her face, letting it build her resolve. This is what she was doing it for. She would save her. She would save Rin.

Following her gaze as the light of Reikei cleared, Sesshomaru found her. In a bubble of the miko's power and lying unconscious at the other child's feet was Rin. Her delicate soul looked close to disappearing and only just began to take more form as his brother's wench poured her own power into her at an alarming rate. There was no time to focus on the nature of that power, though his senses did a quick sweep to confirm that it was in fact strengthening her spirit and not doing it any harm.

With that handled, Sesshomaru turned furious eyes to the girl.

"Release your hold over my ward," he demanded, his tone thick with sincere threat as his right hand closed purposefully over not Tokijin but Tenseiga.

Rei smiled and began to giggle mockingly. "It's too late. You'll never save her no-" her words were cut off as an arrow flew so close to her head she could still feel the shaft against her cheek. She felt the holy power burn against her skin with the immediate promise of purification, heard the deep 'thump' as it embedded itself into the wooden frame of the hut behind her and took a step back to examine the miko whose eyes burned into her own with outrage and anger.

"Did ya feel that?" the miko answered casually and softly, lowering her bow and taking large strides towards her position. The woman's face remained calm and relaxed but her eyes swore retribution as they narrowed on her own.

Rei cringed as she felt her aura becoming stronger by the second. She could smell it building, like the scent of rain on the wind and it was almost powerful enough in and of itself to destroy her just from being so close. She may not have understood what it was but some deep, primal sense of alarm told her it was definitely powerful enough to do her harm.

A chill wind picked up to tear at their bodies violently as the sky suddenly darkened over their heads. Rolling purple clouds began to fill the sky as the air thickened with the smell of a coming storm.

The wind rose around her, seemingly focused on her, tossing her ebony locks in a wild flurry, her long white sleeves billowed, her dark blue hakamas swayed. Kagome sighed as if relieved, her bangs over her eyes. At the sound of distant, rolling thunder her head lolled back to face the sky, her eyes still closed softly as her aura merged with nature's own in a vain attempt to calm her powers which were beyond soothing at this point. They rose inside her, making her feel 100 feet tall and they called to the sky to voice her grief and fury without conscious thought or reason._ 'Won't be long now.'_

Sesshomaru and Rei watched on, Rei with nervous apprehension and Sesshomaru with a mild interest until a rather close clap of thunder caused Kagome not to wince but spring her eyes open wide to stare unflinching into the sky, her gaze filled with a bright light that flashed in perfect harmony with the sound of thunder.

_'Like lightening,'_ Sesshomaru thought to himself. It occurred to him that there hadn't been a flash of lightening in the sky. It was as if the girl was channeling that energy into herself. Which begged the question, how could her mortal body survive acting as a conduit for such enormous amounts of power?

Kagome smiled down at the girl child then, so much like the young and betrayed Kikyo. One of millions of unsettled souls never finding rest after violent deaths. Wounds of the heart, wounds of the soul left lingering tangent and stout on the air, leaving their mark in the world in the form of a drifting consciousness that never appreciated what they had until it was taken away from them.

To feel strongly for something, to be passionate, even if it's about nothing significant is all that really matters to a person who wants to live. People cling to conflict and tragedy, are amazed, entranced and enthralled to see it from a distance because it makes you _feel_ the most, more than happiness ever could. You take that heartbreaking feeling or that explosive rage problem or that 'I'm on top of the world' perspective and these emotions are as addicting as any drug on the planet.

_'Take that equation and what do you get?'_ Kagome asked herself sadly, _'You get a good person who hangs onto their past as a lifeline, as an excuse for their debilitating behavior... It made you a monster.'_

__Rei envied Rin the same way Kikyo had envied her. Their situations were so similar and Kagome could not find pity in her heart for the path Rei had chosen. At least Kikyo had not tried to steal her soul or in any way seek to retake the life that was her's. That is where they differed and that is where the line was drawn between a spirit that deserved saving and one that did not.

Sesshomaru watched the display with a mix of emotions, not one of which he wanted to identify. It was baffling to him that the girl-child show no fear of him but would cower before the human miko when she so much as flares her aura a bit. He would have snorted if he hadn't considered that beneath him.

"KAGOMEEE!" Inuyasha screamed, ripping through trees, Tetsusaiga drawn and ready for battle. He charged where Sesshomaru stood with all his might, releasing a snarl of outrage at his older brother's audacity, meanwhile completely oblivious to the situation around him.

Kagome sighed audibly, her body twitching slightly as the storm above them continued to build. Sesshomaru simply quirked a single eyebrow at his rapidly approaching brother as he once again made an utterly dramatic fool of himself.

"Inuyasha..." Kagome called softly, her bangs covering her eyes. She struggled in vain to suppress the quaking and shuddering of her shoulders as she fought to reign in her powers to no avail.

Sesshomaru had lost all interest in the charging Inuyasha at her soft call, his attention focused seriously on her weakened state. His expression gave Inuyasha a moment of pause and he momentarily stopped his assault on his older brother to stare with confusion at his friend's back.

"Get back."

"What...? Kagome?" Inuyasha continued to stare incredulously.

"Get back!" she strained out despite her now-labored breathing. "You, too, Sesshomaru! Get back, get away from me right now!" She ordered them both, only worried about their proximity to her. She remained faced in the direction of the dead soul, Rei, who was fast becoming flesh and blood before their eyes.

Sesshomaru simply turned and walked a few steps while Inuyasha bounded out of the clearing, motioning for Ki-la-la to follow overhead a little ways, not knowing what to expect from her untrained powers.

"Rei," Kagome called to her again.

Rei looked up and saw how tired the miko looked. She was sweating a bit from some unknown exertion on her brow, panting as if out of breath. Her limbs seemed to spasm erratically, as if she were having trouble controlling them.

"I just want you to know," she continued slowly, taking deep breaths, "That I've been trying really, really hard to hold back my powers completely. I can hold it back for several days before I have to release and...it's almost time to release again."

Rei gulped and squeezed her eyes shut, willing the jewel to speed up the process before this strange miko could end everything.

"I have to know some things," the girl continued and Rei scowled at her persistence. "Did Naraku give you the jewel?"

"Naraku? I've never heard the name. The jewel appeared in my body right after taking Rin for myself. It is my reward for finally taking what is rightfully mine," she declared pridefully as her hand came up to land on her chest defensively.

Kagome sighed, her eyes closed in concentration. Her whole form began to line with a light blue light as she came to a final understanding of the situation. Rei had originally taken Rin because she was jealous and her soul was still that of a jealous child, never able to move on and mature as it would had she continued living. So she stole Rin, because she was lonely, because she was jealous and because she didn't want to be alone. But when Naraku gave her a tainted jewel fragment, those desires warped into a lust for living again. The girl's simple wish to live was steadily draining Rin's life force. She simply couldn't, wouldn't let that happen.

"I can't hold back any longer, Rei. I'm sorry things weren't better for you in your life and I wish I could save you, too but Rin does not deserve to die. I cannot save you in life, but I can save you in death by purifying your soul."

"NO!" Rei screamed and turned to run, feeling first her connection to the child's soul, Rin, break. It was as if she'd reached the end of an invisible tether and when she looked up to Kagome, she saw her eyes open to sadly gaze into her own.

Kagome felt the snap as her aura was released to spread across the land. She felt the power rushing out of her to make a wide circle whose diameter she could not discern, though she knew it was very big. The breath pulled out of her and behind her closed eyes, Kagome could see the light as it burned across her lids.

Sesshomaru's eyes opened wide in astonishment as the girl's true aura and scent washed over him in a tidal wave. First, he was overwhelmed by a wave of tingling purity. Just as it was settling, however, the tangible pulse of a powerful demonic jaki shook the ground, its focal point being that of Kagome, herself. She had been hiding her true power, her true self, all this time. He had felt the moment the first barrier fell, followed by the rest and was shocked that he had not been able to detect it before. He was still unsure if she was aware of blocking it at all or if she had any knowledge as to what she really was.

That she was so powerful as to hide her true powers behind a barrier subconsciously since birth was enough to suggest immortal lineage; that she had the type of barrier that could remain for long periods of time out of his and his brother's detection suggested that her specific type of power was rare. But her holy power? Her ability to channel the elements? He was intrigued, highly intrigued. What _was_ she?

Inuyasha was thinking around the same lines as his brother. Kagome had hidden things about herself from them all. He didn't know why or how but he would find out.

The soul of Rei was purified instantly while her life force moved of its own accord back to Rin's. Half of the purified Shikon lay in her ashy remains. Kagome approached silently while everyone else came back from their retreat positions.

A swarm of Siamyosho came speeding out of the trees toward the jewel, trying to take the piece back to Naraku as Kagome neared its position.

"Ignite!" she called sharply, pointing to the swarm, as a single bolt of lightening destroyed the bees with a final loud, resounding crack before the clouds dispersed completely, leaving brilliant sunshine behind in its wake.

Kagome clutched the jewel to her chest and gathered the shards from the bottle around her neck. She deftly fused them together finding that she lacked a mere quarter of the jewel to complete it.

"Sesshomaru-sama.." Kagome called out weakly, so weak that Inuyasha almost couldn't hear her while he approached.

Sesshomaru's heightened senses picked it up and he flash-stepped to stand directly behind her. Kagome sensed his closeness and relaxed considerably, her shoulders slumping with relief.

"Return Rin's soul to her body," she told him right before her knees gave out from under her. Her body didn't fall two inches before was she pulled around the waist against him and laid carefully to the ground.

Sesshomaru then turned to his ward's soul and dropped to one knee. He gathered her transparent body carefully against him, supporting her head with his right hand while his boa wrapped around whatever his arms could not. He carried her to Ah-Un, who came walking into the clearing as if answering some silent call from his master.

Sesshomaru placed the soul back into her body and suppressed the urge to sigh with relief as she blinked several times and looked up at him happily, though drowsily.

"Sesshomaru-sama, ari...gato for saving me," Rin smiled cheerfully at her Lord with gratitude and adoration.

"You are alright now?" he asked her, his hand pushing back the bangs from her forehead almost lovingly.

"Hai," she assured him sleepily and followed Kagome into unconsciousness.

Inuyasha and the rest of his tachi had gathered around Kagome. He sensed that she had, with the last of her energy, replaced the massive barriers around her aura and power. How much power did it take to sustain those barriers, he wondered and for what purpose did she continue to keep them in place?

The jewel remained clutched in her hand as Inuyasha picked her up carefully and laid her on Ki-la-la, where Shippo and Miroku secured her for flight.

It was the demon slayer who approached him.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" she called to him politely, her head bowed slightly with respect.

He turned his head to gaze at her over his shoulder, gesturing she continue.

"Kagome-chan has special medicines for humans and I'm sure she'd like to make sure Rin is uninjured after she wakes up. Also, with her unconscious, we are left vulnerable to another one of Naraku's attacks. No doubt he will try to retrieve the jewel fragment as I'm sure he had no intention of handing it over to us. I humbly suggest it would be in all of our best interests to join forces, at least temporarily until Kagome wakes up."

She was brave, Sesshomaru thought with mild interest. "It would be in _your_ best interest, you mean, demon slayer," he answered her challengingly. "After all, it is you and your tachi that remains at risk. You therefore acknowledge that both Inuyasha and Naraku are beneath this Sesshomaru's station and seek to gain my protection. Am I correct?" The quiet sharpness with which he spoke was terrifying but Sango didn't flinch.

"Hai," she answered him evenly. "For Kagome more than anything but yes."

"What the FUCK are you talking about? I'm all the protection we need!" Inuyasha raged at her from close range, immediately cutting off his rant when she turned sharply to him instead, her soft, respectful expression immediately disarming him.

"And how many times have you failed her, Inuyasha?" she asked him gently, knowing the blow the words would deal by themselves.

Inuyasha was speechless. It hurt even more so knowing that she was absolutely right. If Naraku attacked while Kagome was still unconscious, they wouldn't stand a chance and he'd take back the jewel they worked so hard to nearly complete.

Sesshomaru nodded with reverence for the demon slayer. "That is commendable. I will heed your request, slayer," he answered her and took to the skies headed for Inuyasha's forest with Ah-Un closely in tow.

* * *

AN: Reviews are my fuel.


	5. Communication

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha _

* * *

Night fell quickly over Inuyasha's tachi in the forest by the dry well. Mist gathered throughout the land as the humidity of the day fell drastically to be replaced with slightly chilly winds, though the ground itself was still warm from the summer sun. The moisture hung in the air and soil as the wind left a biting tingle of cold across one's flesh.

Kagome and Rin were still sleeping as Sango and Miroku fell into their well-oiled routine of setting up camp. They gathered enough firewood to keep it warm throughout the night and then began to unload Kagome's pack.

Sango took a large pot to the river to be filled while Miroku sharpened a few knives and pulled out some Ramen packets, vegetables, and soy sauce. He pulled out a skillet and chopped some onions into it before setting it over the fire, sauteing the onions in soy sauce as the heat picked up. The sound of metal ware clinking, food sizzling and a merry fire crackling soon filled the air but otherwise the camp remained silent.  
With a couple pieces of kindling, he then created a spit for whatever lucky beast would serve as their dinner that evening.

Inuyasha had taken Shippo to hunt for the kill as he was upset that he hadn't gotten to help in the last fight. As the one the kit had chosen to look up to, he thought it was the least he could do to make him feel useful by providing food, to ease his feelings of worthlessness. He knew only too well what it meant to young; weak and striving for strength, for attention, for significance.

He whispered his secrets at stealth as they stalked through the forest without making a sound, taught him to analyze the scent of the kill and by the time they were ready to head back they had three rabbits and a stag. Inuyasha carried the stag while Shippo carried the rabbits with pride, marching into camp with his head held high. Inuyasha then showed Shippo how to clean and skin each of his kills carefully, explaining the importance of using everything, including the bone and fur.

While Miroku situated the deer over the spit to slow cook, brushing it with oils and seasoning, Sango handled the skinned rabbits, quartering the meat into the skillet while the ramen boiled and adding onions, carrots, and minced garlic she found growing wild by the river.

Meanwhile, Shippo and Inuyasha cleaned the deer and rabbit skin in the river, scrubbing any residual meat off with rocks and salt vigorously before hanging it up out in the wind and sun to dry. Later, Inuyasha explained, the skin could be used to make furs for the winter or a satchel, or foot protection, while the bones could be sharpened into weapons, used as hair sticks or other such tools.

As an after thought, Sango pulled a special bag from Kagome's pack and went to fill another pot of water. She returned to camp with the smell of rabbit stew wafting across the air but was mildly disappointed to see Kagome hadn't stirred while Sesshomaru's attention was fixed fully on his ward, who was showing the first signs of waking.

She smiled to herself. The smell of food was enough to get her up, just not Kagome. Thankfully, Sango had a plan Kagome had told her about once in case she needed to wake her up for some reason. She had been very secretive about it and made her swear she wouldn't tell Miroku, Shippo, or Inuyasha about the strange contents in her pack. Something about,_ 'Kami help us if they get anymore energy'_ or something like that. She had given her specific instructions as to how to brew the concoction and she couldn't hold back her excitement now that she was finally going to get to make it, maybe even try it, if Kagome would allow.

Rin finally woke fully just as Miroku was preparing the first serving of stew. Once all the bowls had been filled, he walked to Sesshomaru and looked deliberately from Rin to the food in question, approaching only after Sesshomaru had nodded his permission. He handed the bowl and chopsticks to Rin with a smile.

"You need to eat to get your strength back, my dear," he insisted as she took the food from him gratefully.

"Thank you so much, Hoshi!" she cried cheerfully and began to eat hungrily.

Miroku then bowed before Sesshomaru again. "Would you care for any yourself, Sesshomaru-sama?" he asked respectfully.

"I do not eat human food, monk," he answered shortly, though not harshly.

_'That's his way of thanking me,'_ Miroku assured himself, rather amused at the aristocratic demon lord. He then turned to Sesshomaru's retainer, who'd been completely silent throughout the entire day. Upon closer inspection, Miroku found the imp had bruises around his neck and he seemed overall, just as exhausted as the rest of them.

"And you, Jaken, would you care to eat with us this evening?" Miroku offered sincerely.

The imp shook his head 'no' without saying a word, his arms remained folded across his chest to mimic his lord. Miroku quirked an eyebrow at the very unlike-Jaken response but shrugged lightly at that and took the bowl for himself as he took his seat next to Sango by the fire. If the Imp suddenly didn't feel like throwing a few screechy insults at him for his offer he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Shippo, Inuyasha, Miroku, Ki-la-la and Sango all ate their food in awkward silence while Sango stared at the pot of water slowly coming to boil over the fire, anticipation written clearly across her face. When everyone had finished eating, Shippo took the dishes to the river while she pulled free a few cups from Kagome's pack along with the necessary 'filters' Kagome had told her about.

She placed the paper filters over each cup, ignoring the attention she was getting from the rest of the group and opened the bag labeled 'Gourmet Hazelnut Coffee'.

She breathed in the smell of the contents slowly, loving the different but wonderful scent. Being careful to pour the amount Kagome had specified, Sango carefully poured the mixture into the first filter, holding the side of it with her finger. When she was sure she'd measured it out right, she began to slowly pour the boiling water on top, letting it drip slowly into the cup. It took a few minutes, after which Sango was sure she had successfully made her first cup of hot coffee. She took it over where Kagome lay and brought the cup to her nose.

She watched her sister as after the second inhale, her brow furrowed as her eyes squinted slowly open.

"Sango-chan? Did you make it?" Kagome groggily asked her friend, a knowing half smile on her face.

"Hai, Kagome-chan," Sango answered, "And you have to wake up now because you promised you'd share a cup with me."

Kagome smiled full-on, then. She rolled to her side and lifted herself up into a sitting position, taking the cup of coffee gratefully.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, " she chirped merrily and took her first sip.

"MMMmmmmm, so good," she hummed, taking another lusty gulp. Even without sweetener, it had been so long since she'd indulged in this pleasure that she could literally feel the caffeine sending warmth throughout her body and waking her up. Sango then took the cup from her as she tried to drain the last dregs and went to make another, plus one. She couldn't wait to try the coffee after Kagome had told her so much about it.

The two girls were totally oblivious to the attention they were getting. Miroku had noticed Sango watching the water with anticipation and had watched her brew the strange tea or whatever it was. The smell of it brewing was strong enough for everyone in the immediate vicinity to detect it so it wasn't as if its creation had gone unnoticed by the dog demons in the group, though said demons both currently had their attentions intentionally fixed away as if they were not interested.

Kagome yawned and stretched obliviously from her sleeping bag, feeling every bit like she could go right back to sleep despite having just woken up. Upon recalling why that was, her head snapped up in sudden realization. She looked around the camp as if remembering something important, until her eyes fell on Sesshomaru. She breathed a sigh of absolute relief when she saw him with Rin close by, looking healthy as ever and eating her dinner.

Sesshomaru saw all of this and chose to remain indifferent, though inside he wanted answers to his questions right away. He could see the obvious concern she held for a child that had nothing to do with her and was he mistaken when it looked as though she was relieved to see him safe, as well? He almost laughed aloud at the thought. He? A murderer? A ruthless, merciless, cold blooded killer? A human-hater, at that? She'd be a hypocrite to be concerned with his safely, in more than one way. A hypocrite to her species and a hypocrite to her lineage as a miko.

Ah, but he was forgetting. She wasn't just any miko. How could he forget that scent, the pull of power when her true aura was released?

Inuyasha had finished his dinner and retreated to Goshinboku when Kagome began to wake up. He still felt guilty around her as Sango's words kept ringing in his head. He wanted to engage his brother in combat but knew that was being childish. So he pouted in the tree, choosing to speak to no one until dawn came. She was ok and that was all that mattered. Now that the jewel was getting closer to being whole again he had to stay on his guard. His eyes moved across the horizon like a hawk, his ears twitching as they strained to pick up any and every sound. The smell of the coffee was inhibiting his sense of smell and he felt a momentary surge of frustration before letting it go. He would just have to rely on other methods to detect any danger, to make sure Naraku wasn't about to attack or some rogue demon after the jewel.

"Keh," he spat, leaning against the trunk and feeling overwhelmed. His right hand closed over the hilt of Tetsusaiga and he felt his fury subsiding and breathed a sigh of relief. It hummed almost encouragingly at his fingertips.

Miroku brought Kagome a bowl of rabbit stew while Sango finished making the two cups of coffee. The two sat together on the sleeping bag, while Kagome fished some powdered cream and sugar from her pack. She showed Sango how to sweeten her coffee to how she liked it and they both enjoyed chatting together as the effects of the caffeine slowly kicked in.

Miroku considered himself a patient man. Years of training for his monkshood had taught him that virtue. So when it appeared as though Kagome was not going to share this new drink from her hometown that smelled so delicious, he decided to just wait for the correct opportunity to ask.

When they got onto the topic of footwear and Kagome was just diving into her description of the type of marketplace they had in her home for buying something called 'shoes' he couldn't take it anymore. Flopping down unceremoniously next to the two women with his staff across his lap, he effectively silenced both of them and garnered their attention.

"Please tell me what that delicious smelling stuff is. And can I have some?"

Kagome couldn't help it. She laughed outright at his sudden lack of decorum when presented with something so new and exciting. Smiling, she reached for the pot of water over the fire and began making what would soon be the monk's first cup of coffee. As she brewed, she explained what coffee was and how it worked, glazing over the plant it was derived from and how the beans are actually ground into a powder. It was actually much easier to explain to someone with a fair knowledge of herbs and how they work. When she thought about it, coffee was really just another herbal infusion, wasn't it?

Sugar was around in this time so thankfully there were no explanations needed there, although she hadn't expected Sesshomaru to ask how she acquired such a rich commodity which she narrowly evaded by saying it was a gift from her mother which wasn't a lie but not entirely the truth either but she was able to thankfully slide.

So for his first sip, she insisted that he try it black, then mixed some sugar in, which he liked more, although he balked at the amount she used and tried to insist she was being 'much too generous' to which she only rolled her eyes and poured a little more just for principal's sake.

As Miroku balked and she giggled over her use of the sugar in his coffee (which really wasn't overly much but apparently sugar was REALLY expensive in this time) no one noticed that Sesshomaru's attention had become fixed on the interaction. He assumed she must come from a noble line to be so blase about giving away such valuable luxuries but couldn't figure out why she would have become a priestess. Why would a well off family send their daughter to become a miko in the first place?

"This is called powdered cream. It's basically milk and sugar that's been concentrated and dried into a powder form, which dissolves when it hits liquid," she explained as she poured some into his cup and stirred the contents until they became a caramel color. It was when she looked up that she noticed she had everyone's attention. Sango looked horrified and was looking back at the cup to her incredulously, Inuyasha had peaked an eye open and even Sesshomaru was staring at her from his place by Ah-Un. She found she could not meet his gaze for longer than a moment before it felt like it was searing into her. Color filled her cheeks as she turned away.

"What?"

"_That's _what that was?" Sango asked worriedly, looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth.

Kagome bit her lip. "Yea, why?"

"I don't know, it's just weird. Milk isn't supposed to be..._that_," the slayer countered, making Kagome giggle.

"Well if you don't want to drink it that's fine with me but I suggest you at least try it, Miroku?" she asked, holding out the cup with a smile. "I promise it won't hurt you," she amended, laughing, as he eyed her warily before taking it into his hands. His suspicious-looking eyes did not leave her's as he took the first sip and she couldn't help laughing at his goofiness. He closed he eyes. Swallowed.

"Mmmmmm, that was amazing. More powdered cream for me, please," he asked, holding his cup out to her with a dramatic flourish and she and Sango laughed as they poured another round for each other.

"You want to see a cool trick I learned about this powdered cream stuff? I bring it because obviously real milk would spoil but I saw this Youtube video the other day...Well, never mind about that, just watch."

Standing up, she poured a generous amount of the creamer into her hand and walked up to the fire with a grin. "This is going to be cool," she warned just before she doused the contents into the flame and stepped back just in time to avoid the wave of fire that lifted into the air. The mixture ignited with a rush, causing a small and very brief explosion but it still left everyone a little rocked.

She giggled softly as silence met her ears and when Miroku looked at her with round eyes of surprise and said, "You fed me explosives?" She couldn't help herself from falling back into her bedding and laughing until the tears were rolling down her cheeks.

After finishing her dinner, she decided she needed to check on Rin's condition. She pulled free her first aid kit and walked purposefully to where the girl and her Lord sat, bowing her head slightly to Sesshomaru in an act of respect.

"May I see to the girl's health, then, Sesshomaru?" she asked the most respectful tone she could muster.

"As you wish," he answered her indifferently, though his eyes never left her person or attempted to conceal their interest in her actions.

Kagome did her best at ignoring him as she smiled at Rin. "How are you feeling, Rin-chan?" she asked happily, instantly masking any trepidation even as she scanned over the girl's features for any signs of internal damage or struggle, noting the bruises here and there, the grass stains on her kimono, her dirty feet and hands.

"Very well, Kagome-chan," she answered sweetly, smiling herself.

"I'm glad." She checked for a fever, her fingers affectionately brushing through her some-what oily locks and smiled broadly when her temperature was normal. "Do you feel sore or achy? Does it hurt kinda to move around?" Kagome prodded, squeezing and pulling each limb one by one gently.

"No-o!" Rin laughed loudly when she squeezed her knee on a ticklish spot.

"Just the same, I want you to eat this; it's candy you'll like it," she assured her with a giggle when Rin's face fell at the sight of the strange thing in Kagome's hand.

Rin took the Flintstones vitamin hesitantly. "Hey, it looks like an ugly man!" she shrieked in surprise.

Kagome laughed outright. "Yes, an ugly man you're going to eat!" she teased her, tickling her sides a bit.

Rin ate the vitamin after her laughter subsided and then chose to curl back up against Ah-Un, yawning tiredly.

"Miko," Sesshomaru called just as Kagome was turning her back.

"Hai, Sesshomaru?"

"This Sesshomaru does not approve of you giving my ward 'candy' at nightfall."

She paused, everything coming to a dead halt. All the stress and worry of the last few days drained away and in its place though she _tried_ to suppress it, she really did, an image of Sesshomaru wearing a pink apron like her mother's and pointing a scolding finger at her flashed through her mind. Sapphire eyes widened in shock and she had to scowl pitifully to hold in the laughter that bubbled forth. Frowning hard, eyes watering, her gaze slid to meet his as she simultaneously realized the ridiculous face she was making. With a gasp, the laughter burst from her tightened lips with an undignified squeal. She laughed so hard, she had to hold her knees for support as tears rained down her cheeks from the effort and she gripped her sides, gasping for breath only to laugh some more.

Sesshomaru continued to stare indifferently at the blubbering onna, though inside he could not help but feel slightly amused. He smashed the feeling down inside him as best he could, allowing no sign of such entertainment to cross his features, save a slight narrowing of his now warm, amber eyes.

Sango, Miroku and Shippo remained very quiet as Kagome continued to laugh outright at Sesshomaru. Above in a nearby tree, Inuyasha squinted open a single eye to gaze on the scene, just in case.

"Do you think she'll survive this one, Sango my love?" Miroku whispered in her ear.

Sango could only shake her head, afraid for her friend's life.

Kagome, however, had no such worries. Her laughter slowly subsided to an occasional giggle as she caught her breath, breathing slowly to calm herself. She looked back up at Sesshomaru to see no expression save one elegantly raised eyebrow and melted down all over again, this time taking to the ground in her hysterics.

"Me-Lord, perhaps this is a scheme of Naraku's and he's made the miko loose her mind," Jaken suggested quietly, his first words since Rin's soul was taken.

"No doubt," Sesshomaru agreed quietly with a curt nod of his head. "It's a shame a woman of such caliber, grace and power so often participates in acts so beneath her station."

Kagome felt the laughter die in her throat.

"W-What? What did you just say to me?" Kagome implored him.

She was answered with a rare, victorious half smirk in her direction.

"Humph!" she huffed and turned her head, refusing to look in his direction again as she made her way back over to her pallet. _'Ok, did he just compliment me or insult me? I'm totally confused. I'm pretty sure it was an insult, leave it to Sesshomaru to find a way to both compliment and insult a person. Still, that's as close to a compliment I'm ever gonna get from him. A woman of caliber, grace and power? When have I ever been graceful? I'm the clumsiest person I know, save Hojo's cursed ancestor._

_'Is he saying I should act more like a lady?_' Kagome scoffed into her cup of coffee, suppressing another laugh and drawing Sesshomaru's attention once again.

_'As if he would even know how a 'lady' is supposed to act! He lives in the Feudal Era, for goodness sake. Most of the women here have babies by the time they're 14! How's THAT for lady-like?'_

Miroku and Sango looked on from their spot against a fallen log by the fire warily, not quite understanding what was going on. Anyone else that had the audacity to laugh in Sesshomaru's face would've been dead before they hit the ground; did he hold more respect for their friend, then, or did he value their temporary alliance enough to tolerate it for now?

Miroku was full of speculations. He was busy concentrating on such thoughts when he felt Sango's hot breath against his ear and shuddered. "Don't look now, but in a second I want you to look at Sesshomaru and tell me what you think that expression means," she whispered.

Miroku beat his desire down inside him before sneaking a glance. It was hard to pull away once he saw it but he did quickly, not wanting to be caught in the act of staring. He saw it. He knew what it was, but his mind quickly interjected to say it wasn't possible. The two fought for dominance in his brain.

"I'm not sure," he confessed quietly, leaning into her ear so he could speak even softer, "But I think he's...amused?" He voiced the last bit as a question, remembering the ghost of a smile on the usually blank demon lord's face.

Sango shook her head. "That's what I was thinking, I just needed someone else to confirm it. Did you hear what he called her? 'A woman of caliber, grace, and power.' Since when does Sesshomaru compliment anyone?" she asked worriedly, wringing her hands in her lap.

Miroku sensed her distress and put a single arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him for comfort.

"No worries, Sango, my love, Kagome is strong. If Sesshomaru is, indeed, taken with our friend, I'm sure she can handle it. She's been handling both Inuyasha and Koga's affections for 4 years now and she's managed to remain untouched by both; this would be no different."

"You're right," she acquiesced and leaned into the comfort he provided, despite the blush that spread across her cheeks. She couldn't help but relish the close contact, being so deprived and her soul yearned for his love.

Kagome spied the couple across from her whispering to each other and sighed. She had long ago guessed at Miroku's intentions and he had finally one day given up and explained to her, in detail, his feelings. She knew that despite his ability to conceal it well, he was always thinking about how long he had. He had to deal with the fact that his wind tunnel might rip open at any time, pulling him into oblivion like his father or his father before that but only if he wasn't poisoned to death from the miasma and poison brought daily into his blood first. He knew if they didn't make it in time to kill Naraku that he wouldn't survive and thought to lessen the blow to Sango by remaining distant; hence, his constant womanizing. For, if she were to fall for him completely, he would be all she had in the world if Kohaku didn't survive. Knowing the chances of her little brother perishing were pretty high, he didn't want to bet her happiness on the small chance that he survive to comfort her if he couldn't. He knew his soul would never truly rest if he were to leave her so wounded.

Sango knew all of this and more. The hoshi did not know that she had, in fact, already fallen for him. She would no longer deny him close contact but she would try her best to keep her feelings secret. For, if he were to perish, she would want his soul to rest in peace knowing he'd done the right thing by her, even if it meant a lifetime of pain for her in his wake.

Sesshomaru remained propped against Ah-Un lazily, his eyes closed. He did not appreciate the fact that the two humans across from him had underestimated his senses so as to believe he could not hear their whispering from across the camp, though it had provided him with interesting information. Both the wolf prince and Inuyasha wanted to mate Kagome, yet she resisted both. _'Interesting...'_

Kagome gazed at Sango and Miroku longingly, a far away look on her face. '_Sango, poor Sango. That she'd survived her ordeal with Naraku was astonishing; that she had retained her sanity was incredible. She had watched her entire family slaughtered by her little brother, who was also killed before her eyes, all because of one jewel shard she had brought into her home village. Naraku used her brother's body as a puppet to do his bidding, keeping it animate with a jewel fragment. He'd even gone so far as to use him as a shield against her, knowing she could never bare to hurt him._

_'He lured demons into her village and killed everyone, men, women, and children; there were no survivors save her. Naraku thought to destroy all those with knowledge as to the jewel's origin but failed when Sango survived and teamed with Inuyasha. She explained the story of Midoriko, the great priestess to them, who lived 500 years ago when the jewel was created._

_'The story explained how many demons came to form a pact to kill the powerful miko. They merged themselves into one massive body, a bloody, distorted abomination lusting for blood and thirsty for power._

_'She fought the demon for seven days and seven nights until exhaustion wore her down. She used the last of her power with the intention of sealing it away but she overestimated what she had left and the spell had to use her soul to complete._

_'The result had been the Shikon no Tama._

_'History was repeating itself,'_ Kagome repeated the thought to herself for the thousandth time. _'Now I stand in Midoriko's place, the third incarnation to try and erase the mistakes made.'_

Naraku had caused all of them so much pain. Even now from a distance, he stood between Miroku and Sango, prevented them from fulfilling their simple wish to settle down and have children, to live their lives in peace.

When she thought more about it, she realized all of them had simple expectations for themselves before Naraku. Anyone now involved with the fight for the jewel were simply trying to live their lives before it. All they wished for, really, was a hut, a few mats to sleep on, food to eat, a mate, children... Was that really such a high expectation?

Here they all were, fighting with their lives just for the off chance that they might succeed in killing the worst villain Japan has ever seen so that people 500 years from now in her time could live their lives without the constant tragic threat of death, slavery, and destruction.

They hoped that they survived but everyone gathered around the fire knew that loosing their life was more than a possibility. Yet, they all managed to keep going, never letting fear slow them down for an instant or deter them a moment from their central focus.

When did she see that kind of strength in her time? When had she met anyone from the Modern Era willing to lay down their life for anything, much less such a simple wish? But perhaps that is what made them such fierce fighters, perhaps it was the nature of their desires that made them true and strong and capable of surviving. What they wanted, what they needed, what they were all willing to lay down their lives for, it wasn't asking much. It wasn't much of anything. But it was something that everyone deserved. Everyone deserved to have love, have a life.

She looked up to the silhouette of Inuyasha sitting on a branch above her and sighed. Inuyasha had been willing to turn himself into a human for Kikyo, willing to purify his demonic heritage, all that made him strong in the world, for the chance to live with her and have children. She had, in turn, been willing to give up her position as a priestess and all the powers and titles associated with that, to become an 'ordinary woman.'

Her heart bled for them both. Bled because she knew her feelings for Inuyasha would never be returned as he would always see Kikyo in her, would always be wondering if what he felt for her was, in fact, what he felt for Kikyo because she looked so much like her. Bled because she saw the longing in her past incarnation's eyes when she looked at Inuyasha and she understood that their bond surpassed exponentially the bond they developed in their short time together. She wished she could just bring the dead miko back to life and give them the chance to be together. After all they'd been through, they deserved that chance at happiness.

Her fingers came up to clasp the warm, purified jewel fragment around her neck. _'All for this, the Shikon no Tama. Everyone involved looses something; their family, their life, their mind, their heart, their soul; everyone looses in this game. Two powerful souls fighting for dominance, good and evil, light and dark, Yin and Yang. This could be me and Naraku instead of Midoriko and Magetsuhi, the demon and priestess inside the jewel,'_ she thought ominously.

The night wore on quickly as most everyone had drifted off to sleep. Only Rin and Kagome had slept most of the day away but Rin had exhausted her very soul and would need more recovery time. She feigned unconsciousness anyway, gazing through slightly cracked eyelids to stare at the stars in thought.

Sesshomaru eyed Rin and Jaken, assured they were in the later stages of sleep. He knew his brother was still awake and the miko feigned it but everyone else had long ago given into their exhaustion.

He rose languidly and whispered just sharp enough for his targets to hear clearly, "Inuyasha, Miko, come with me."

He then turned and walked briskly until he was far enough away from camp to not be overheard. Choosing a rather large tree, he sat himself down below it regally, resting his back against the bark. He watched dispassionately as Kagome and Inuyasha both made their way to him, following his lead and taking a seat.

They made an awkward circle on the ground, Inuyasha eying Sesshomaru suspiciously while Kagome merely looked mildly interested.

"I believe it high time we had a discussion. I have...questions," he worded carefully, eying Kagome at the last, who squirmed uncomfortably in her spot.

"Let's start with the most basic. You told the soul of the human child that you had to 'release' your aura after keeping it contained for a long period of time. Why are you containing it?"

Inuyasha looked to Kagome expectantly, also wanting the answer to this question.

Kagome looked surprised. "Oh, well, Kaede-ba-chan explained to me demons could sense my aura and would come after me if I didn't keep it contained, so she taught me to seal it with a barrier shortly after I came through the...came here," Kagome corrected quickly, hoping Sesshomaru hadn't caught the slip where she almost said, 'came through the well.'

He had, but he wasn't as concerned with that yet. Silence reigned as Sesshomaru pondered what she said, continuing to stare at her blankly and trying to detect any deception in her scent. Sensing only her honest sincerity, he continued.

"Miko, do you understand what the purpose of a 'barrier' is?" He asked her gently, as though trying to teach a child.

Kagome's jaw dropped. "Are you...serious with that? I'm a miko, Sesshomaru, I _make_ barriers!"

Sesshomaru nodded. "Then I would expect you to understand that once you make an effective barrier, nothing comes _out_ of it."

Kagome felt her temper flare and tried to remain in control, her cheeks coloring with the effort.

Inuyasha saw this and thought to help a bit, not that he wouldn't enjoy watching Kagome go off on his brother but it would eventually mean they would have to fight and he had to admit he wanted answers as bad as Sesshomaru did right now.

"What Sesshomaru means is, we've always sensed your aura. I can sense it from miles away, your holy power is a dead give away," he quickly interjected.

"So if you're sealing it-" Sesshomaru continued.

"What have we been sensing the whole time we've known you?" Inuyasha finished his sentence as both waited patiently for the information to sink in.

Kagome troubled her bottom lip with her teeth as she thought it over. "I-I don't know. Maybe...I'm not sealing it right or something?" she asked them hopefully, feeling suddenly concerned for herself.

They both shook their heads 'no'.

Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "We're not trying to scare you, Kagome. But when you released your aura today, I sensed that your holy power was holding something within you back. When it let go of what it was holding, I don't know how to explain what I felt. It was like I was exposed to a new kind of power, one I've never felt before in my life."

Sesshomaru nodded wisely. "He speaks the truth, this power is rare. Tell me, Kagome, where do you come from?" He noticed her hesitance and frowned, looking at his brother, who looked equally hesitant.

"Why is that relevant, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha accused.

"Suffice it to say that it _is_, brother," he hissed back contemptuously.

Kagome sighed, resisting the urge to face palm herself. "It's ok, Inuyasha, he would've figured it out eventually. It's not like we're very good at hiding it when I have to S-I-T you every time I go home," she rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Ok, Sesshomaru, you asked for it. My name is Kagome Higurashi. I live on a Shrine in a city called Tokyo in Japan, which is right here, 500 years in the future." She gave him a moment to take it all in before continuing, somewhat enjoying the slightest look of confusion and surprise on his face.

"I was somehow born with the Shikon jewel in my body and lived my whole life hearing stories about it from my gram pa, without the slightest clue it could be real.

"On my 15th birthday I was pulled down the well on my shrine by a Centipede demon who was revived by the Shikon. Maybe you've heard of her. Mistress Centipede?" At his blank look, she continued. "Anyway, as you may know, the Bone Eaters Well is called such for it ability to make demonic remains disappear. I have a theory that has something to do with my time travel as well, but I digress. It was the first time I'd ever seen a demon as they don't exist to my knowledge in my time.

"That was the first time I'd manifested my miko powers, too, when she tried to kill me. The jewel opened a portal to the past and I arrived here, in Sengoku Jidai

"I freed Inuyasha so he would save me against the Centipede demon who had ripped the jewel from my body and applied the beads of subjugation when he, in turn, tried to kill me after vanquishing her."

Sesshomaru turned to Inuyasha for confirmation of her words, who nodded.

"Hn," he pondered, sensing her complete honesty. "You travel back and forth," he stated more than asked.

Kagome blinked and nodded.

"Can anyone else access this portal into time?" he asked mildly.

Kagome hesitated. "Well, yes, Inuyasha can get through."

"I see. Has anyone else tried the portal to your knowledge?"

Kagome thought about that a minute. "Not really. The only people that know about it is our group now including you. Shippo once tried with jewel shards and while that was enough to activate the well's power, it still wouldn't let him through. I sensed the shards from the other side at my house and came over without a problem."

Sesshomaru nodded. "The well's magic seems questionable, to say the least. Anything that draws its power from another source is a parasite and should be destroyed."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone, mister!" Kagome protested, waving her hands for emphasis. "That's my way home, I trust you to leave it alone!"

Sesshomaru glared. "You are mistaken if you assume this Sesshomaru meant to purge the problem himself."

"The '_problem_'?" Kagome shrieked. "What would you know about it, pray tell?" she seethed, close to loosing her temper.

Sesshomaru took it in stride. "I am simply adept enough to realize that the power that propels you through time so often at your convenience could very well be demonic."

"Or holy!" Kagome argued.

"That remains to be seen," Sesshomaru commented with an air of finality.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Who gives a damn about the origin of the well's power, I shouldn't have to be the one to point out that we have bigger things to worry about," he complained gruffly, his arms across his chest.

Sesshomaru took that as a cue to continue his line of questioning. "So you were born with the jewel in your body?" He asked somewhat incredulously.

Kagome nodded.

"And you have sufficient proof that your claim is valid?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes. "You can't sense that I'm telling the truth?" she asked flatly.

"I cannot detect any deceit, however, with a claim that large, surely you have some evidence that will support you."

"I can sense the shards, that much you know for a fact," she ground out seethingly.

Sesshomaru blinked slowly in response, the gesture somehow translating into a condescending shrug of indifference. "A rare talent," he demonstrated with a mild wave of his hand.

Her glare could not have been any icier when her fingers came up to pull at her navy hakama strings, loosening her pants. She gathered the material around her waist and stood as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha followed suit.

Careful not to reveal anymore than necessary and blushing harder than she ever had in her life, Kagome pulled up her horai until her lower left side was completely exposed.

Sesshomaru took his time looking at her hips and porcelain skin. He knew he should be looking for the mark, still, he couldn't quite stop himself from breathing in her scent as so much of her flesh was so quickly exposed. He could smell her womanhood cleanly as the air around it was free to flow over him on the wind. His mouth watered momentarily and he had to swallow to continue. He found the pink, star shaped scar on her beautiful, otherwise unmarred skin and ran a single finger over it lightly, as if to test whether or not it was real. Her flesh was like warm silk against his fingertip.

His eyes traversed her face, looking for some sign of withdrawal or refusal. But they had shut softly and her lips were parted slightly, her skin flushed. His ears could hear hear heartbeat picking up as blood rushed to focused areas of her body. One finger became five as he pressed his palm against her hip, gripping it lightly, almost seductively.

Kagome shuddered as she felt Sesshomaru's finger ghost across her skin. She tried not to think about the situation, that she was half-naked and alone in the woods with two damn good looking demons but the physical touch was too much to block out. She shuddered lightly as she felt a stirring ache forming in her lower belly. She felt his hand grip her hip firmly with the promise of some very bad behavior as she fought with the sensation to no avail. Meeting his half-lidded, amber eyes in question told her he knew _exactly_ what he was doing and only heightened the sensation, making her squirm uncomfortably.

Inuyasha's arm sprang out and took hold of his brother's forcefully, pushing it down.

"That's enough," he grunted, murder written across his face.

Sesshomaru pulled back slowly, staring down his brother nose to nose as Kagome retied her hakamas around her waist quickly, her expression far away.

"Protective, are we, Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru taunted him, knowing the exact cause to his brother's distress. Kagome's arousal hung thick on the air and it wasn't directed at him.

Inuyasha's lip curled in threat, baring a single fang. "Just keep your hands off her," he warned seriously.

Sesshomaru did not respond but matched Inuyasha's threatening glare with one of his own.

"Ok, _boys_," Kagome chided lightly, trying to patch the current mood. "Kaede taught me to suppress my _holy_ aura, which is what I've been doing. I don't know why you can still sense my it from 'miles away' as Inuyasha says, just that I might not be so good at sealing it as I thought I was.

"I have no idea what you both sensed yesterday when I released, but it wasn't me. Maybe you were sensing Rei right before she was purified? I don't know. But I'm human, you've got to both see that. And the only powers a human can possess are what I have, _holy_ powers."

With that, she bid them goodnight and headed back for camp, leaving the Inu brothers to stare after her.

Inuyasha turned to his brother after he was sure she was out of hearing range and safely back with their friends. "She has no idea."

"None."

"And she's almost of age soon..."

"By less than a quarter moon, the change will force itself upon her. She has resisted it, even barricaded it from herself until now. It has grown too strong to resist."

A breeze picked up, carrying with it her strong scent and neither company said a word until it had died down, noses slightly raised to capture it more fully and they breathed simultaneously in the silent understanding that they neither wished to ruin the moment with petty words. It soon died down, bringing them back to reality once more.

"What will this mean for her powers, her connection to the jewel?" Inuyasha asked as he focused on an imaginary point in the distance.

Sesshomaru was disgusted. "What will you do if it means her connection to the jewel is forfeit? Abandon your mate to continue your quest to kill Naraku and become a full demon?" Amber eyes squared off unflinching when his brother's head snapped around to look at him, fury and defiance shining in his eyes. "What is she worth to you, Inuyasha?"

"She's not my mate," Inuyasha ground out through clenched teeth. "She my _friend_. If she can't sense the jewel anymore I want her safe, away from this fight. There's no need for her to risk her life anymore against Naraku if she can't sense the jewel."

"Hn. That's very... noble of you, brother. Or, perhaps it will solve another dilemma for you. You could wish your dead priestess back to life if Kagome was out of the picture for good, couldn't you?" Sesshomaru taunted viciously, guessing the paths his brother's mind was taking.

Inuyasha snarled in outrage. "How dare you," he accused in a low threatening tone, "I care about Kagome, I care about Kikyo, I even used to care about you. But you, you don't even know me, never cared to know me. You were never interested in me until I had something you wanted.

"What do you know about family? Or friends? Or compassion, for fuck's sake? We may be blood related Sesshomaru but we are _nothing_ alike!" he spat with disdain.

"I don't know you?" Sesshomaru repeated coolly, quietly incensed. "How could I _not_ know you? Did it ever occur to you, in your simpering, delusional, half demon brain, what your mother's coupling with our great and terrible father meant for me?" he half whispered sharply.

"My mother, my full blooded demon mother, suffered an accident which rendered her barren after my birth. Since father wanted another heir, she had to die so he could take another mate."

Inuyasha blinked, having never heard this story from Myoga or Totosai. He honestly didn't know what to say. He wanted to call him a liar but couldn't find a single memory that proved his brother wrong. Feeling dumbstruck, he simply stared at him blankly. He was beginning to think he didn't know so much about him, after all and then he continued.

"She killed herself not long after I was born. She didn't want him to be.._displeased_ with her. Maybe now you can understand why I never thought a human hime was worth her sacrifice."

And then he sighed, a long and wary thing that indicated his exhaustion with the situation and Inuyasha found himself disarming at the sight because he'd never seen his brother expose so much of himself and it left him slightly winded and very confused.

"Inuyasha, I swore to our father that I would teach you to fight before he died. I chose to make you think those fights were real of my own volition so that you would not hold back, because it was the only way to make you realize your potential. You would have died if I hadn't. When your mother died, I offered you assistance not in the form of a comforting shoulder but as a mentor that taught you to be strong and face your problems, to take care of yourself.

"I took over the Western lands when it became apparent that Tetsusaiga was nowhere to be found. You see, everyone expected the heir to the Western throne to wield Tetsusaiga, for its power. When I was given Tenseiga, instead, I had to fight to reign in control over those who thought me less worthy or not our Father's chosen heir."

A bitter smile Inuyasha had never seen his brother don before slid into place and he reeled as yet more evidence piled that his brother actually _felt_ things.

"I didn't realize how essential the sword was to your health until I witnessed your lapse in control. It was on that day I relinquished my desire for Tetsusaiga and realized father meant all along to make me fight for my position; it was simply his way of things. I failed to remember that and for that, I was wrong, I admit.

"Now that you understand the situation more fully I will no longer tolerate your constant insults and disrespect. You owe that to me, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha crossed his arms across his chest, unconvinced. "And the Unmother? What was that sick shit? You used my dead mother to make me confess where our father's tomb was when I didn't even know and when that didn't work, she tried to pry it from my _soul_!"

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. "I will not be associated with that meager plot. I said it was beneath me from the beginning, though I will admit to giving my retainer permission. It was imperative that we open the tomb during that time frame or the sword would have been lost forever."

"Keh. You ripped a hole through my chest."

"I knew you would survive; you cut off my left arm."

"It grew back."

Sesshomaru scoffed. "It wasn't an overly painless process."

Inuyasha shrugged. "You tried to kill Kagome, twice."

"I saved her, twice."

He rolled his eyes. "You want Kagome."

Sesshomaru's eyes widened.

"Don't try to play it down, now, Sesshomaru. She wasn't the only one aroused back there. Give me some credit as a dog demon, at least."

"She is...different," Sesshomaru confessed. "Not like a normal human, not like a normal woman, even. Clean, brave, clever, beautiful, fiercely loyal, protective-"

He was interrupted by Inuyasha's sudden input. "Keh. Loud, clumsy, bossy, emotional, irrational-"

"Honest, sincere, independent, powerful, defiant-"

"Defiant?" Inuyasha asked. "You like that?"

"Hn."

Inuyasha scoffed. "You hate humans."

Sesshomaru sighed. "I hate weakness, which I used to believe a required trait of the human race."

Inuyasha grinned. "Figure it out, did ya?"

Sesshomaru stared.

"Why we're attracted to humans?"

He blinked.

Inuyasha sighed. "Think about it. We live for thousands of years. It takes alot to interest us, much less to offer some form of entertainment. Humans know they only have a short time to live, so they have to make every moment count. Being around them makes time go by faster."

Sesshomaru nodded. "But let's not forget, Inuyasha, that Kagome isn't human."

* * *

AN: Reviews are my fuel :D


	6. Insecure Inquiries

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

* * *

Kagome laid down to sleep by the fire, her mind turbulent with her thoughts. She never really heard Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's arrival, didn't sense them settling back into their places around her.

They had to be wrong about her. She was human, she'd lived a _human_ life, had a human family. Why, then, did she feel such trepidation when the subject was called into question? Where was her confidence on the matter now?

She lived on a shrine and came from a long line of priests and priestesses said to have remarkable powers but until her's manifested, she'd never even graced the prospect of its credulity. Now, she was forced to realize the truth.

But was that it? Was that the truth?

She closed her eyes and focused on herself, feeling her heartbeat quickening with her concentration. _'Normal; all normal. That is..'_ Her mind flashed with momentary images of times she'd used her miko powers, conjuring them into her bare hands and arrows to defend herself.

She saw herself the first time she'd invoked lightening while meditating, how she'd laughed hysterically as she urged the storm to continue and went running through the rain and wind like a child to end up a muddy, smiling mess on Kaede's door step.

_'Give or take a few weird qualities,'_ she thought dryly.

Kaede had taught her everything she knew, had told her what to expect of her powers. Did Sesshomaru and Inuyasha think she was immortal because of her elemental abilities? But Kaede had said it was all part of her growth as a priestess. Since Kaede would never lie to her, she reasoned, that left Sesshomaru in the wrong with his suspicions.

But that didn't seem right to her, either. In all the time she'd known the aristocratic demon lord, he'd never been wrong on a hunch before and she'd even gone so far as to pity those who did not heed his words in the past. Alarm stretched across her nerve endings at the thought. Sesshomaru's senses were immaculate; so far, the only thing capable of eluding him in battle was Naraku and that was only by a hair's breadth every time.

Was there really something about herself she didn't know? Her mind raced to think of someone that could provide answers to her questions. She resolved herself to wait for dawn before heading to Kaede's hut.

She rose at first light and without a word to anyone, took her pack with her to a nearby spring, carting her bow and arrows on her back to defend herself in case of an attack. She relieved herself in the woods and bathed fully before donning a black, flowing peasant skirt that tied with a string around her hips. A spaghetti strapped, black tank top with a built in bra was a welcome relief to the horai/hakama sets she had to endure while her future clothes were dirty.

She felt like she was finally back in her own skin when she completed the outfit with a pair small, ballet style, black flats. Why were extraordinarily comfortable and very cute, plus the material was easy to wash off and practically water/mud proof. Plus, they made her feet look dainty.

She washed her hakama/horai set and hung it out to dry over a tree branch near the stream before making her way to camp to start on breakfast.

Her bangs had grown out to fan the sides of her face, curling with the humidity, the lowest point of which going far past her ears to dangle over her shoulders. The rest she secured with stretchy hair ties from her time in a high ponytail as she walked, letting her locks spill down her backside toward her hips.

She secured her quiver and bow across her back as well as a hidden dagger at her hip.

Inuyasha was rudely awakening Sango and Miroku when she returned, nudging them with his feet and demanding they "Get goin', already."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome called harshly. "Give them their space, for crying out loud!"

"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed but heeded her request never the less.

Kagome smiled to her friends as they slowly pulled themselves from sleep.

"You're up early, Kagome-chan," Sango remarked tiredly, pausing to survey her new outfit. "Nice one," she added with a smile and Kagome grinned. It had become somewhat of a game since she got out of school. She packed a variety of outfits that her mother had dubbed 'Feudal friendly' and not a one was a uniform. Sango always looked forward to seeing what apparel she would choose when her horai/hakamas were dirty.

"Indeed," Miroku managed through a yawn. Kagome and Sango shared a knowing glance. He had no idea what they were talking about. "Since when are you a morning person?" he ventured, raising his water bag to his lips.

"I resent that!" Kagome mocked offense playfully. "Why don't you guys get up and get ready to go while I go and see about getting us some breakfast-"

THUD.

Kagome stared wide-eyed at the slaughtered hog and two chickens laid at her feet, followed by a basket of eggs full to the brim.

"Whoa," she managed, looking up to find Shippo beaming proudly up at her, his arms across his chest. One glance to Inuyasha said everything when he avoided her gaze to stare at something in the clouds interestedly.

She sweat dropped. "Thank you so much, Shippo," Kagome hazarded with a grin, knowing she should show her appreciation after he worked so hard but not quite over the whole dead corpse thing. Really, they still had their heads and they were all bloody and...Ewww!

"Why don't you and Inuyasha go to the stream and clean them and I'll cook us up a big breakfast?" she managed while faking a bright smile.

"Alright! Come on, Inuyasha!" he called excitedly as he grabbed all but the eggs and hog before scampering off to the river.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Had to bring me into it, did ya?" he commented as he easily lifted the hog to his shoulders and turned to follow the young fox kit.

"You started it," she retorted sweetly, pulling a pot out of her pack and following behind him.

She filled her biggest pot with water at the stream and made everyone a cup of coffee, including Sesshomaru, who begrudgingly gave into her insistence that he try it once. Sesshomaru found he liked the bitter taste and Kagome wasn't surprised to find he preferred his black to cream and sugar, though she firmly told herself it was not because of the explosive display from yesterday.

Inuyasha and Shippo returned with the hog meat, now finely shredded thanks to demon claws and ready for cooking.

Kagome fried all the bacon and then friend the eggs behind it, using the left over bacon grease to cook the tops until the yoke was completely done but still soft. She boiled some instant rice and filled the bowls with first the rice, than the eggs, and topped the dish off with several pieces of bacon as a garnish.

The group feasted together this time, even Sesshomaru helped himself to some bacon and eggs, having liked the smell of the meat cooking too much to resist.

Kagome giggled as she watched Sesshomaru try what was obviously his first slice of bacon. His eyes went all wide at the first bite and he looked around at everyone quickly as if to find the person that witnessed his broken facade and kill them where they stood.

His eyes landed on a giggling miko. "Don't worry, Sesshomaru, I cooked a whole Hog's worth, there's plenty to go around," she assured him, enjoying her breakfast immensely.

"Oh, Shippo, this is SO good!" she exclaimed between bites and sips of coffee. "I haven't eaten like this in ages, it seems!"

Shippo was too busy stuffing his face to respond.

Sango nodded and swallowed. "And we still have all that dried deer meat from the night before last under the coals of the fire. We can't forget to take that when we leave. It will make a great jerky for traveling."

Kagome nodded that she'd make a point to remember. "Is it done smoking yet?"

"No, but if we keep it bundled it should be fine to leave in our next fire. A few more nights and it'll be ready to consume," Sango informed her.

Everyone finished their breakfast and began gathering their things, ready to move out at a moments notice, when Kagome announced she was off to see Kaede while the others decided which direction to travel since she couldn't sense any shards.

In the haste to get things ready to go her departure was over looked by most in the group. But there was one person who did not miss it and that person watched the miko steadily until she was out of sight from the camp.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel.**


	7. Answers

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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The trek to Kaede's was peaceful and gave Kagome the time she needed to collect herself before confronting the elder miko on what she may or may not know about her identity. She was resolved to confront her mother as well if Kaede held no answers and if that didn't work out for her, she didn't know what she'd do. But she had a plan so far and that quelled her anxiety a bit as she walked with purpose through the village of Edo, finally reaching her hut at the back.

She knocked on the door frame lightly, waiting until she heard Kaede call her in.

"Kagome child, I could feel your distressed aura approaching from Inuyasha's forest for a quarter of the sun's time in the sky this day. What is it that plagues ye so?" she asked worriedly, shooing her into a chair and handing her a hot cup of tea.

The warm familiarity of the hut was comforting and just what Kagome needed after a night full of questions and little sleep. She poured over everything that had happened in the last few days, leaving out the part about Sesshomaru touching her mark.

Kaede listened intently, nodding her head here and there but showing no outward surprise, even when she told her about Sesshomaru's suspicions.

"Well, what do you think?" Kagome asked her tiredly, feeling a little frustrated at her lack of reaction. "How can they sense my holy aura if I've spent so much time learning to contain it? I thought you said my barriers were perfect?"

"I stand by my word, child, they are perfect," Kaede supplied her vaguely but sincerely.

"Then what's going on?" she finally asked desperately.

Kaede sighed and closed her eyes. "I suppose it will be today, then," she muttered to herself. "Kagome child, I know what you're asking of me and aye, I believe I may have some answers to give you."

She rose at that and walked to her herb table. Her hands lifted the tabletop easily to reveal a hidden compartment underneath. Ignoring the dried herbs that fell to the ground, she carefully gathered an old wooden box sealed with a dusty sutra and handed it to Kagome significantly.

Kagome eyed the box warily, taking it when she noticed her family's crest carved into the lid, hidden in part by the sutra. It was half as long as she was but light in weight, as if the box itself was all there was.

"Kaede, what is this?" she asked wondrously, "And where did you get it?"

The old miko chuckled mysteriously. "That was given to me to hold for you until the day you asked the right questions."

Kagome's mouth fell open. "The right questions?" she asked flatly, feeling like she might faint from anticipation.

Kaede nodded wisely. "Aye, child. I was given the strictest of instructions from the giver to be sure I followed that one and only rule."

"A-and w-who?" Kagome stammered, not sure herself what she was asking.

"I believe the box may contain some enlightenment to that."

"Right."

Kagome pulled back the seal with ease, no physical resistance evident until right as the last corner was released, there came a light popping noise, signaling a barrier had been nullified.

With a gulp, Kagome unlatched the clasp and pulled back the lid. Her eyes landed on the contents widely, full of more questions as she looked back to Kaede, her mouth ajar in astonishment.

A letter fell out of the box in the rustle and settled at Kagome's feet. She sat the box down and gathered it curiously, feeling its fragility the moment her fingertips made contact. An envelope, not a scroll like in this time. A really, really old envelope from her time with her name written across the front in a handwriting she felt she recognized.

She smiled incredulously as she pulled the note out of the envelope carefully to find the blue lines of yellowed notebook paper. Her heart pounded in her ears as her fingers struggled to unfold the note with her trembling.

Finally it was there before her. She shook as she read the first line:

_Dear daughter,_

_I know that we did not get much time together and I know, if you're reading this letter, no doubt you have several questions. I will start by answering a few._

_Our race is rare; only a few well-bred demons remain that know our story and it was your mother's wish that I convey this to you before my inevitable demise._

Kagome winced, forcing herself to concentrate on not ripping the paper with her iron grip.

_The most ancient of demonic records state that our line was created when an army of silver inu thought to create a new, powerful race by combining the blood lines of powerful elemental youkai. They kidnapped hundreds of women, grouped them together and drugged them with opium and hormones to kick start their heat cycles. The story goes that these women were treated luxuriously, kept in exquisite beds, fed exquisite food and were later bestowed with generous titles and land for their service.  
_

_Only the strongest of the Inu were allowed to couple with the women, who were by that time, more than eager to comply and they were held under this contract until the presence of a pup was confirmed.  
_

Kagome scowled. What a disgusting story! _This_ was the story of her people's creation? They were practically born from rape? And did Sesshomaru or Inuyasha know anything about it?

_The offspring of the women turned out to be powerful as they had suspected and they were named Godai Inuyoukai, or 'elemental dog demon.' The Inu continued to enslave more and more female elementals until the castle could no longer hold everyone and their offspring, so the citadel grew to massive proportions to accommodate their size._

_After a demoness had served her purpose and birthed five pups, her duty was done and she was released into the citadel to most likely become the wife of an esteemed soldier.  
_

_I know this seems strange to you having been raised in your time but you must understand that these women were honored in Inu society for having provided them with powerful children that would be raised in their own clan._

_Once they were released into society they were given titles equivalent to a human hime and most often, the Inu that most frequented their beds would make the offer to become their husband._

Kagome rolled her eyes and scoffed. "How _honorable_ of them," she muttered sarcastically.

_Then one day, a Kami bore witness to the workings of the Citadel and grew outraged at their lust for power. He cursed the Inu by sealing the traits of the Godai, leaving their abilities dormant until maturity in the hopes that this would deter the Silver Inu clan from their primitive ways. _

_All of the existing Godai Inus in the Citadel that were under age at the time were transformed into humans and so despised were humans by the Silver Inu, that many of them were slaughtered by their own clan before realizing the error of their ways._

_Children were left vulnerable and many were killed before realizing their true potential by rogue demons who didn't know, couldn't tell that they were not mortal. Others were destroyed when they came of age suddenly and could not control their transformation or the influx of such tremendous power, having spent their entire lives as a mortal._

_The Kami who cursed them took pity on their state and bestowed them with holy powers to defend themselves as their numbers began dwindling fast toward extinction.  
_

_It became impossible to tell the difference between a normal human monk or miko to that of a Godai Inu._

_Many human orphans were taken into training, only to have them transform when they became of age surrounded by monks or priestesses, who of course purified them on the spot._

_Those that did survive learned to keep their ability to appear human when they close, giving us the ability to blend in and with it, the ability to continue wielding their holy powers even after their transformation into adulthood, so long as they were in their human form. Parents raising families knew to inform their offspring right before their transformation to ease the transition._

Understand that keeping this secret from you was crucial to your very survival. It is an ancient tradition for Godai Inuyoukai to live first as mortals before we ascend to immortality.  


_You will come of age soon and when you do, your transformation will force itself upon you. I have no doubt that you will survive and learn to accept who you are, that you will face the destiny set before you._

_Now that you know who you are, think about your life, Kagome. You live in a shrine 500 years in the future from this spot, you were always told you came from a long line of mikos, your mother has, from the beginning, taken the fact that you travel through a well through time and into the cold world of the Feudal Era on a daily basis remarkably well for a human mother, even in the Modern Era._

_Your mother and I both have made use of the well for most of our lives, as our descendants did before us. It was created by our family and it is essentially a well of power, a well of our family's magic sealed tightly on both sides like a closed cylinder. It is not the power but the seals that makes it special. The seals keeps the energy preserved, alive and contained. Without them you would simply keep falling through the time rift. _

_You were not the first person to fall through the well and fight demons for the good of mankind, my daughter. Everyone in this family hears the call eventually and fights for the good of the world._

_For the last several decades, we have been fighting Naraku._

_I must tell you now that you were not our first child but the second to last of four children. Your sister Kikyo was the first to be born, followed by Kaede._

_It was a turbulent time to protect children as I'm sure by now you are aware. Your mother and I spent much of our time fighting demons outside the village in the hopes of finally retrieving the Shikon no Tama._

_When it was finally done, I set the task of protecting it to Kikyo until a way of destroying it forever could be decided upon._

_You may well know the rest of the story. Kikyo and Inuyasha decided on a wish that would mean the end to all of their demonic power, a sacrifice they were both willing to make to see it gone from the world forever. Kikyo did not even know she had demonic power to give and would have given up her immortality without ever realizing she had a chance at it. The wish would have either rendered them both mortal and our family would have had to watch them die thousands of years before we did or it would have rendered Inuyasha human only for Kikyo to transform barely a year later._

We forbid her but she was not old enough to know why. We begged her to trust us. Inuyasha never even knew who we were, never had the chance, because the moment we refused her, she took matters into her own hands. I mourn for the outcome I am sure you have already uncovered. Even now Inuyasha remains pinned to the tree, doomed to sleep forever and Kikyo is but ashes.  


_They were deceived by Naraku and pit against each other._

_I mourn my daughter's death and wish I could do something to free Inuyasha from his tragic resting place. I grieve for Kikyo, that she was so close to coming of age at her time of death, wonder if only it had happened a day later than it did, if I had made it in time._

_I thought then that Kikyo had paid with her life to see the jewel disappear only to find 35 years later, when we decided to try for another child, you were born with the Shikon shining brightly from inside you._

_We knew you were deemed the new protector, knew the kind of life it would mean for you and we were devastated. Naraku was ever on the hunt for some sign of the jewel's existence and I couldn't risk loosing you, being so young and defenseless._

_So I sent your grandfather and mother through the Bone Eater's well, knowing you would be safe there in the hopes that I would defeat Naraku before such a time came that you would have to face him yourself._

_In the past, your mother made frequent trips to see me. I can no longer allow her to take this risk; she is now pregnant with our fourth child, your brother Souta, and the rest daughter, I could not say, though I'm sure you already know._

_I have no doubt that you are confused and even angry with your mother and I for not telling you these things sooner. Know that we had only your well being to consider when the decision was made._

_I am so sorry, my daughter, that I will not be there to teach you myself, that I was unable to shield you from this destiny. It has been my burden to carry my whole life and I would not wish it on my worst enemy but it seems the fates have already claimed your destiny as they claimed my own and Kikyo's so long ago._

Kagome did not miss the hint of bitterness in her father's words.

_It seems that all I have worked to protect you from has been for nothing. I am not powerful enough to perform the task set to me in this time and despite the sacrifices I have made to see it done, I cannot protect you from the life you will no doubt take up in my stead._

She choked back a sob, holding the fragile paper away from her tears should they fall and blot the precious ink.

_As I write this letter now, you are just a little girl going to preschool and my time in the Sengoku Jidai draws to a close; I will not be able to complete my mission in this time but I will give my life to see to it that you are at least given a head start now that there is no other choice but to pass my fate to you._

_I will deal one final blow to the abomination known as Naraku. With the last of my power, I will create a glass pocket of purity and with the cost of my life, will see it embedded in Naraku's chest._

_If he tries to remove or taint it, the glass will break, condemning him to death. If you don't sense the purity, you'll know you're fighting a puppet, so change your target accordingly._

_The gifts I offer you are all I have to give and I hope they aid you in your quest and serve to protect those you love._

_I am sorry we will not have more time together but know that I love you and wish only for your health and happiness._

_With all my love and pride,_

_Dad_

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel.**


	8. Revelations

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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The tears came, or had they been there the whole time? She didn't know. They poured down her cheeks as she peered through blurred vision at the miko sitting in front of her. "So we're sisters, eh, Kaede?" she asked softly, feeling her cheeks fill with heat from crying.

She vaguely made out the form of Kaede nodding slightly 'yes'.

"Then you don't really look like this?" she gestured violently to the older woman's body. "You're not really old?"

Kaede chuckled. "Nay, child, I have simply taken this form for too long. Someone has to remain in the village as a Miko that knows about our people. I can offer a safe house to any Godai Inuyoukai who may not even know what they are yet. Much like yourself." With that, she stood warily and stretched her aching limbs. They popped and cracked like any old mortal's would and Kagome began to doubt the letter's credibility, until suddenly the woman standing before her looked to be no more than a few years Kagome's senior, her hair a near lilac Grey, the skin of her face suddenly smooth as porceline.

Her eyes had changed from a dark brown to bright green while her back straightened to reveal herself as several inches taller than the younger miko.

"Kaede-ba-chan, you're beautiful!" Kagome exclaimed excitedly, not knowing quite what to think of the drastic change.

Kaede put a finger to her lips mischievously as she transformed back into the old miko. "I can't have any of the villagers finding out, can I? They'd loose all their trust in me.

"Inuyasha as well. He was never told the truth about Kikyo, never knew our secret. It was Kikyo's will that once she came of age, they'd make the wish, without Inuyasha ever being the wiser.

"If I ever expected Inuyasha to trust me or to allow me to guide you both with your quest, I had to remain in the human form he remembered. A form that had aged 50 human years," she explained calmly. "Besides, Naraku killed our sister, Kikyo. I watched her die before my very eyes. My holy power was not as strong as her's, so he didn't view me as a threat enough to kill me. Since then, he's never given me a second glance. I could not protect this village if it wasn't so."

Kagome nodded she understood but did not loose her shocked expression as she gazed down into the box her sister had given her with awe. Inside lay two Sai, but unlike the ones she'd seen on Electra and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles growing up, these were bright silver. The sun caught on their six deadly points to shine up into her face blindingly. The hilts were both embedded with large sapphires while the face held two crescent moons back to back with a single streak of lightening between them, also made of Sapphire.

Over the Sai lay a delicate-looking long bow that was carved elegantly from the white wood of a Silver Birch tree and engraved with Kanji prayer symbols.

Both weapons seemed to pulse with not just holy power but something else, too. The power she was feeling was the demonic power of her family.

"Why me?" she nearly whispered. She wanted to know. Why was she given these weapons and not her other sisters, why not Kaede or Kikyo?

"Because you, unlike the rest of us, were born with the Shikon inside you. Your destiny to it is obvious to us all. Unlike when our father gave Kikyo the jewel to guard, you were not given a choice with your fate. This is the least we can do."

Kagome closed her eyes with resolve. "So father sealed the well from everyone but me to protect me and Souta. Meanwhile, you haven't seen our mother in-since right after I was born, so almost 18 years! All because I couldn't figure out the right question to ask? It doesn't make sense."

"Kagome, we are eternal creatures, you will soon come to find. Do not forget that I had already spent nearly 50 years with my parents when the decision to separate arose. I was more than old enough at that time to make my own decisions and more than ready to protect my younger kin from the cruelties of this world."

Kagome took a moment, letting the information sink down into her bones. Her mind was like a whirlwind, desperately engaged to analyzing each new revelation and apply it to her current situation as well as to memories. Her head shook back and forth as if to free herself of an invisible web.

"If Kikyo is my sister, how did I free Inuyasha? How was my soul then used to resurrect her lifeless body? Am I or am I _not_ her reincarnation?" Kagome demanded firmly. Really, all this fuss with Inuyasha always seeing Kikyo in her and always comparing her skills to her and all the psychological torment she'd been through to finally step out of that shadow since her first day in the Feudal Era, she had to know.

"You are still her reincarnation, aye. You must understand that while your souls are the same on their basest level, they are very different at the same time. Your soul is much older and therefore, much larger and much more evolved. In other words, all the lessons Kikyo learned in her time here on this earth your soul retained when it transmigrated to your body after her death."

At her overwhelmed expression, Kaede pressed the cup of tea she'd been preparing while she read the letter into her hands and Kagome took it gratefully, the action of bringing the cup up to her lips and taking a long sip soothing to her current situation.

It was sweet and warm. Distracting. She grasped onto the silence around her and action like a lifeline, something to do with her hands. She focused on the taste instead of her grief for their father and tried to absorb what her sister was telling her. Her sister. She gazed at Kaede with a soft smile and she felt something click into place when the old miko gave her the usual teasing smile in response and she knew that smile had only ever been for her, her little sister. Sighing again, she focused on what she was saying.

"Kikyo, so brutally trained to be always on guard, never truly learned the virtue of putting her trust and faith in others. It was this mistake that led to she and Inuyasha's tragic betrayal. Her resurrected self retained only the part of her soul that made up all the distrust, pain, and anger she felt right before she died.

"You, however, were born incapable of thinking of yourself. You put everyone's needs above your own and you trust your friends and allies with your life. If Naraku tried today to make you believe they'd betrayed you, it just wouldn't be in you to believe him."

Kagome pulled the woman into a hug, then. She just couldn't bare to sit there any longer pretending like they were still just good friends. They were _family_. She had an _older_ _sister_. It was something she'd always wanted.

"Sister.."

Kaede patted her back lovingly. "I'm sure it's going to take some time getting used to, dear. Why don't you go see our mother and talk it over with her? I'm sure you'll feel better afterwards," she suggested gently.

Kagome nodded dumbly as she pulled away.

Kaede helped her strap the new bow across her back while her Sai were secured at her hips. She discarded the old dagger and bow, handing them over to Kaede for her next apprentice or perhaps Shippo should the kit show an interest in archery in the future. She then pulled another package from the box Kagome had missed being that the color of it was the same as the bottom of the inlay and handed it to her sister.

Kagome gave her a puzzled look. "More surprises?" she teased as she unwrapped the item, which turned out to be several arrows, their shafts made of the same Silver Birch wood as her bow. They were also engraved with Kanji prayer symbols while the tips were carved from what looked like white opal. The delicate stone was carved incredibly sharp while the feathers on the arrows were made from a strange, dark blue, fine hair.

Kagome gaped at the expensively made arrows in astonishment. "I-I could never use these!" she exclaimed worriedly. "They're just going to get fired and lost or worse, broken! I'll go through them in less than a week!"

Kaede laughed merrily. "Those arrows are special, child. They were made so that they could be healed with your holy power and summoned by it as well."

"Whoa, I can summon them to the quiver?"

Kaede nodded. "And if they're broken, you can mend them, too."

"That's awesome!" Kagome cried and hugged her new sister again for good measure.

Kaede chuckled happily. "I'm glad to help. Now, go see your mother. I'll still be right here, just as I've always been, when you come back."

With that, Kagome left the hut and began her trek down the trail and back to her friends.

Sesshomaru also headed back to camp ahead of her, masking his aura as he went along.

Normally, he would've considered the act of eavesdropping beneath him and in any other situation, he could safely admit he would never be tempted to do so again; there was just something about the miko that peaked his curiosity. He wanted answers to her situation but after absorbing all he'd heard of their conversation together in the hut, he was beginning to think he'd bitten off more than he could chew.

He'd never heard of his clan out breeding elemental demons but he didn't doubt that it happened. If his ancestors were anything like his great and terrible father, he knew it was probably true. To find out that the old miko he'd never sensed anything off about before was a full blooded demon had dealt quite a blow to his ego, he was loathe to admit.

He'd always considered his clan, the Silver Inu, the above-all, most superior species known to demon kind; that meant that no one could ever defeat or deceive him, so he thought. But these Godai Inus seemed to possess a quality his race lacked, something he swore to never admit out loud.

He casually strode back into camp to be followed moments later by the miko.

"I have to go home for a bit," she informed them seriously.

Normally Inuyasha would immediately protest but even his skull wasn't so thick as to miss her anxious, stressed aura and pleading expression.

"Okay, Kagome," he agreed gently. "Is everything ok?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, everything's fine Inuyasha, thank you. I won't be more than a day," she promised hastily before turning her back and breaking into a run for the well.

"Hey, you're not going alone!" Inuyasha chided and broke into a run himself to see that she got there safely.

As soon she'd been engulfed in the bright, blue light, he headed back to camp, practically scratching his head in his puzzlement. He returned to be met with similar expressions from his group.

Shippo was the first to speak up. "What was that all about, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha shrugged awkwardly, wishing he had the answer. "Who knows?"

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	9. Expecting Me?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

* * *

Kagome looked up from her position at the bottom of the well to see the dusty rafters of the well house, dim beams of warm sunlight spilling through the wood in large, warped lines. Particles swam through the illumination silently, the muffled sounds of automobiles stopping and going outside on the street the only other sound meeting her ears.

It was cold where she stood, the temperature being nearly cut in half when standing on the cold, damp soil. The stone walls permeated a constant chill that could be felt against bare flesh and seeped through clothing like water.

Her hand reached up to grasp the friendly, wooden latter rung firmly before hefting herself up, resolved to be rid of the chilly ground. She forced herself to take step after step into the warmth but tried not to think that every moment was drawing her closer to the truth about who she was. Her heart pounded in her ears, threatening to weaken her grasp and she took a deep, comforting breath before continuing in her climb determinedly.

_'I know who I am now. Mom and Gramps have probably been waiting for the day I'd climb through the well and ask them, tell them what they knew. Why, then, am I so afraid? Why do I feel like I'm on my way to meet someone I've never met before?'_ She quelled the adrenaline and anxiety that wanted to spring itself on her nervous system as her first foot found ground over the lip.

She pulled herself out and made her way to the doors, pausing with both hands in place to pull them apart. Her bangs fell into her eyes as she gave herself a moment. She thought of her life and memories with her father. A smiling face, a deep, laughing voice- she remembered little things. Being bounced on his knee, her mother singing lullabies and then..

Quiet. She had to be quiet, for days. That was when her Gramps told her her Dad had died and that her mom was sad and she had to be a good girl while all the people were coming over.

It rained, then stormed and it seemed the storm would never go away. Souta could be heard screaming through the house, inconsolable, in the high pitch, bone-chilling shriek of an infant that senses something off.

One night, she was crying in her bedroom as the storm raged outside. She remembered in the peak of her sobbing, there came a crack of lightening so great, it shook the house, followed by a loud bang.

The next day, they found a limb had been struck on Goshinboku and was laid out across the yard ominously.

Kagome remembered specifically her mother paling at the sight of the large tree branch, how she had shook her head 'no' as if to deny it before running frantically back to her bedroom.

Gramps had only shook his head and smiled down at her before making her breakfast.

She'd never thought before how much Gramps had done for her and Souta during that time, when her mother couldn't. He brought happiness into their world when their mother couldn't, he brought stability when she couldn't. She feared a reality where he had not been there to support them.

Soon after the incident, her mother had emerged from her bedroom with a smiling, happy baby Souta and proceeded to drag Kagome out of her own depression.

Since then, she thought, she'd never seen her mother loose control again. In every other memory, she was the picture of patience, love, and happiness.

With a sigh, she tore open the doors to the well house and made her way through the front door of the shrine.

"Mama! Souta! Gramps! I'm home!" she called as she strode through the living room towards the kitchen.

"Kagome?" her mother called from the kitchen. She appeared briskly around the corner and took her daughter into a hug.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're back! I've been so worried about you!" she confessed, squeezing her with emphasis.

"I missed you, too, Mom," Kagome choked out dramatically, as if she was loosing air.

Her mother smiled and backed away but did not pull her hands from her shoulders.

"Come in and sit down and I'll make us some tea. I've got some snacks in the oven for when Souta gets home from school and I just put a load of clothes in the wash. I want to hear all about what you've been up to the last few weeks," she insisted, practically dragging her daughter with her into the kitchen.

"Yea, I was hoping we could talk," Kagome agreed lightly as she was ushered into a chair at the counter and promptly poured a cup of the hot, steaming brew, smiling idly when she thought about the tea she had just shared with her sister. Apparently it ran in the family.

She spooned sugar with a surprisingly steady hand into her tea carefully, added a thick drop of cream and stirred the contents until she was sure it had dissolved before taking a light sip. She sighed, sitting down the cup lightly and laying her arms out, palms flat against the table. Her bangs fell over her eyes as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth, finally letting her resolve take hold.

"Godai Inuyoukai," she breathed softly but clearly, not watching her mother's face for a response as she immediately fetched her tea cup and took another sip. It did seem to help. She had blurted it out without thinking, the only way she knew how to broach the subject and now she could feel her mother's sharp attention to her form from across the table, could sense the intensity of the atmosphere around her elevate.

"So," her mother began calmly, not taking her eyes off her daughter, "You have received the letter...?"

Kagome nodded numbly, taking another sip of the tea and staring at a point somewhere on the wall in front of her.

"I see," her mother continued seriously, leaning back in her chair a bit and bringing her cup with her. "You have questions," she assumed smoothly, meeting her daughter's questioning gaze as it appeared momentarily from behind her bangs. "Ask them."

Kagome had all of two seconds to think before a light beeping sound was heard, at which her mother sat down her cup and stood. She pulled open the oven door and freed the sizzling pizza rolls from the rack, placing the baking pan on the counter to cool.

"Why haven't you told me about who I am until now? Why make it so hard for me cope?" Kagome began, getting straight to the point.

Not missing a beat, her mother pulled down a few glasses and filled them with ice before going to the refrigerator and getting a jug of Apple Juice.

Kagome continued, watching her mother and her actions. "If I'd had years to get used to this idea, I can't help but think that would be the better route..." she finished softly, staring off at some random place and shaking her head back and forth.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed as she poured the juice into the glasses. "I remember having this same conversation with my mother centuries ago, only the tables were turned, then," she answered without looking up. She pulled down a few plates and dispensed the pizza rolls onto two plates to cool further. "I was so upset when I found out about my lineage, that she had lied this whole time. I felt hurt, like they hadn't told me simply because it never seemed that important to them, like _I_ never seemed that important to them. Forget about tradition, it wasn't law. They had a _choice_, that's what I thought.

"You know what she said to me? My mother?" she asked her daughter with a sad smile. "She said, 'If you'd known you were a demon all along, that you would live for thousands of centuries, you would not appreciate life the way you do now. You would not appreciate _humanity_ as you do now. You should be grateful,' " she mocked in her best 'scolding mother' voice, which wasn't that bad considering she was a mother herself.

"I was so mad!" Mrs. Hirgurashi exclaimed, adding straws to the juice. "They had kept this huge secret about who I was and for what? So I could 'understand' humanity? I _lived_ humanity, for 17 years! What difference would it have made if I had known or not?"

Kagome giggled at her mother's outburst.

She continued, laughing a little herself. "I mean, how could I know more about it, right? But then, several centuries later, I understood what she meant. "

Here she stopped messing with the food and focused all her attention on her daughter. "In your life after the change, you will no doubt become acquainted with a new side of life, an entire new species of society to interact with. Demons are very different from humans, as I'm sure you already know. What you don't know or are not prepared for is that once you change, you will be considered of the highest class in demonic society.

"With your looks and legendary lineage, many will seek you for an ally or mate. You must be prepared to tell the difference between a demon who truly cares for you and a demon who simply desires the power your blood will bring to his line.

"This is where your humanity comes in. Without it, your instinct to discern true love and compassion is almost non existent.

"With the change comes great power and influence. Your compassion for humankind will influence your heart and with it, your decisions in life. To protect, to abandon, to teach, to heal, to befriend, to love.

"Finally, we live exceptionally long lives, even for demons. Time can make you numb, can make it difficult to express or even feel emotion. Taking life for granted comes naturally to a demon, their sense of time being so slowed compared to a mortal.

"We are given a gift in our short time as mortals. A gift that teaches us how to live, how to make each and every day count. How to be content, how to be happy, how to continue creating joy-all these things you learned because you _didn't know_ you were going to be a demon. That's why we never told you, that's why no Godai Inuyoukai will ever know the truth until right before they are to come of age."

Kagome nodded after thinking hard on her mother's words for a short time. It was a strange tradition but after that explanation, she supposed she could not deny its good intentions. But in the case of Kikyo...

"I can accept that, I guess. But what about Kikyo? I mean, she's about to make the biggest mistake of her life and she couldn't have been that far away from coming of age, right? So why not tell her?"

At the mention of Kikyo's name, her mother flinched visibly and Kagome felt a pang of regret for bringing it up so forwardly. She had lost her daughter, after all.

"I'm sorry-" she began but she waved her apologies away with her hand.

"It's ok, you deserved to know the truth. She came to us with this idea of purifying the jewel. We had the right wish would destroy it and Kikyo had been seeking a way since it fell into her protection. Certainly we would have told her about her lineage had we known how serious she was but we feigned her acceptance and carried it out against our wishes in secret. My biggest regret in life is that she died believing that her family had betrayed her."

Kagome gulped against the rising tide of emotion in her mother's voice. She had thought of Kikyo's demise when she learned that they were sisters but seeing the pain of loss on her mother's face seemed to grind that fact into her very being until it hurt.

"Okay, your mother," Kagome continued, trying to salvage the conversation from deteriorating into hysterics both for herself and her mother. "My Grandmother-I've never heard you speak of her before."

"And Grandfather-they both live in the Feudal Era."

Kagome's eyes widened at the proclamation, she had grandparents she'd never met AND they lived in the Feudal Era! What were the chances?

"W-what?" Kagome questioned incredulously but didn't get an answer as right at that time, Souta opened the front door with a rather loud snap, followed by a friend of his from school. "Hi, Mom, I'm home!" he called before realizing his sister was sitting at the table.

"Hi Kagome, I didn't know you were ho-I mean, feeling better," he corrected quickly, glancing over at his friend sheepishly as he took his sister in a hug.

"Uhh, yea, I'm feeling much better, Souta, thank you!" she answered, doing her best to cover up her nerves.

Mrs. Hirgurashi smiled at her son. "Did you have a good day at school, Souta?" she asked sweetly.

"Yea! We learned about Dinosaurs today! My favorite is the T-Rex!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"That's nice, dear. Why don't you and Takawa take these snacks up to your room and get started on your homework?"

"Ok, Mom, thanks!" Souta called as he took the snacks and drinks from his Mom and made his way up the stairs to his room.

"Where were we?" her mother asked smoothly, placing the cooking pan in the sink and turning on the water to wash it.

"Grandparents in the Feudal Era," Kagome supplied her quickly.

"Ahh, yes," she answered airily, scrubbing at the pan with a soapy pad. "Your Grandfather is a Fire Godai Inu and your Grandmother is, well, a little more complicated. See-"

"Wait, there are different _types_?" Kagome clarified, looking confused.

"For every type of element, yes. There are several different varieties of Godai Inu and each is ranged on a different level from the next. Our immediate family happens to be on the higher level, beginning with your Grandmother."

"The fire Godai Inuyoukai?"

"No, that's your Grandfather. While your Grandfather was not that powerful or unique in his abilities, your Grandmother was. She was a composition of breeds, an experiment, so to speak. Her mother, your Great-Grandmother, was a powerful Earth Godai Inu while her mate, your Great-Grandfather, was a Storm Godai Inu. Storm is a powerful combination of Wind, Fire, and Water.

"Your Grandmother became the first and only Godai Inu to possess every Elemental gift of her species. None of her brothers or sisters survived. She came to be known as the TaiGodai Inuyoukai, or 'Great Elemental Demoness' in society, as am I, you and Souta. Your brother was the first Godai Inuyoukai ever born.

"But your great grandmother's history is rather sad. She died after giving birth to her fifteenth still born. Your grandmother was the only babe that survived. The pregnancies were not taking because the nature of the couple differed so and she eventually lost her life, her mate following soon after.

"Your grandmother was raised by a kind and wealthy Inuyoukai family in the West until she became of age. She was then married off to her mate soon after her transformation, a powerful Fire Inuyoukai and sent to his homeland in the mountains of fire."

Kagome jumped as the sound of water running quickly ended as her mother shook off the pan and began wiping it dry with a small, pink dishtowel.

"They had many children together until one day, her soul was sealed in a battle with a fearsome villain, an ugly, distorted, composition of demonic flesh set out for her blood.

"Fearing for the lives of her mate and children, she sealed them away in a barrier as the battle commenced, leaving her helpless when her final moments in this world came to pass."

Kagome listened interestedly, noting that the story held an edge of familiarity to it she couldn't place. She was practically on her seat when her mother set the pan to dry further on the dish rack.

"Or so the story goes but if you ask me, that's not what _actually_ happened. You're living proof of that."

She waited several minutes as her mother warmed up her own cup of tea and settled back into the chair across from her, sipping it mildly.

"Well, what happened?" she asked her impatiently.

"Hmm?" she cooed innocently. "Oh, well, I think you know the rest of that story," she supplied her mildly, a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth.

Kagome almost let her jaw drop. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Her mother only smiled further. "Let me give you a hint: Your Grandmother's name was Midoriko and her mate's name was Totosai," she supplied coolly, continuing to sip her coffee.

This time, Kagome's jaw did drop, while her eyes opened wide as saucers. "Mi-Miiii-dori-ko?" Kagome blubbered nearly incoherent at her mother in the form of a question.

Mrs. Higurashi nodded.

"Totosai?" she questioned further.

Her mother nodded again, raising and eyebrow and sipping her tea.

The last thing Kagome registered before loosing consciousness was her chair falling backwards to the floor.

Mrs. Higurashi watched her daughter crash in a dead faint with mild amusement. She always did ask too many questions for her own good. When would she learn to take her time with these things? But, perhaps she'd learned her lesson this time.

With a sigh, she summoned her father in law to help her carry her up the steps and into her bed. The old man looked weak but she had faith in his inner strength could pull it off.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

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**Reviews are my fuel :D**


	10. Freedom

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kaede rose well before dawn's first light and dressed for the day, donning her usual miko garb, tabi socks, and sandals. She tied her hair back in the traditional style of a Shinto priestess, a loosely bound, low ponytail that traveled the length of her spine with tendrils of aged, brittle silver.

Her old hands reached for the cracked, clay pitcher of water, tipping its liquid contents into the clay basin before her. She splashed the water on her dry face, doing her best to rinse away the grime of sleep though the temperature was like ice and stung her skin and brain into a quick wakefulness.

A coarse, brittle towel was used to then pat it dry, taking care to wipe away the last evidence of sleep from her eyes and skin.

The old, leather eye patch was gathered and tied firmly around the back of her head, protecting the vulnerable, empty socket from the open air.

Silence reigned as she gathered and bound several tea leaves for her trip, along with a strange bundle of clothes, slipping them both into a small leather satchel that she slung around her neck to hang around her left hip comfortably.

A simple rope was bound around her waist, securing a long quiver full of arrows, while an aged long bow was slung across her back.

The remaining red hot coals of the fire sputtered and died as she poured a cast-iron cauldron of water over their remains. A long hiss accompanied by a cloud of steam filled the small hut momentarily before being picked up by the wind and carried out into the world.

She emptied the contents of her stores, consisting of some dried meat and a few of the water bottles Kagome had given her. She stored them into the satchel as well, giving her hut one last critical once-over for any supplies she may have forgotten.

Once she was satisfied with her preparations, she pulled back the tattered, leather flap to her hut and proceeded into the quiet to make her way through the village of Edo.

The village night watchman nodded to her once from his perch on the lookout, his old face tight with the wrinkles of age and stress, coupled with memories of horrors he'd seen throughout his life. His expression did not soften at her regard, rather the lines remained perpetually frozen in a grim, expectant way. His hawk-like eyes went right back to scanning the horizon carefully for any signs of unwarranted activity.

The first rays of dawn had only just begun to greet the sky in startling magenta that faded to orange and finally, to soul-warming gold. Mist crept along the dew laden grass as she muttered prayers under her breath while she walked.

Reaching a certain point in the village, she paused to bow her head shortly. Those with the Sight would have seen the enormous blue barrier that sprung from her person to consume the village in that single moment before carrying on her way. To any other onlooker, she merely appeared a plain old priestess, pausing for a moment in her morning prayers.

The quiet, glorifying magic of morning was her time. It was the time her spirit was at its highest, her energies practically bursting at their seams. All of her kind had their time during the seasons. Throughout the turning of the wheel, each Godai Inuyoukai was bonded with a special phase in the cycle of the Moon, which depended entirely on the moment they chose to transform for the first time.

Her's was the Mid-Summer's Dawn. She knew it was her time one, because she'd always felt closest to it and two, it was the moment she came of age. She believed Kikyo's time would have come at dusk during Fall and she assumed Kagome's was Midnight Summer, judging from her fascination with star gazing, she guessed her sister would come of age at night.

Sounds of deep breathing came from each hut she passed, signaling the deep sleep of the villagers. Very few of the them gave off soft ruffling sounds, those attributed to a person just on the verge of waking.

She tread silently with her hidden demonic abilities, gliding almost on air across the ground, not wanting to alarm anyone until her feet abandoned the well-worn path and the safety of the barrier for the shade of Inuyasha's Forest.

The wildlife was active around her; she could hear birds calling overhead and other forest creatures running through the brush. The gush of a nearby spring bubbled in her ears while a light breeze brought the floral scent of summer, rain-soaked soil, pine needles and grass to her nostrils along with the warmth of the sun.

Goose flesh pricked her skin as the warm sensation spread across her body and she breathed in the sweet flavor deeply, loving the nostalgia it never failed to bring her.

Nature truly soothed her soul.

She stopped at the stream and filled her water bottles, taking a long drink to quench her thirst before restoring her supply and carrying on her way.

The morning dew was chilly and it clung to her robes in sparkly droplets of shining water beads, threatening to dampen her attire as she trudged through the forest, making her way in the direction of the clearing she knew housed the bone-eater's well.

For 50 years, she had maintained her image as an old miko tirelessly. No one had ever suspected her of the magic, despite being around just the type of creatures that had the ability to sense those things.

Any other day, were one to look upon her physical form, they would see nothing but an old, human, mortal priestess, one that was well on her way to Kami.

Today was different. Today would be the first time since her coming of age that the illusion of her humanity faltered; weakened by her heart's over-brimming excitement at what was about to happen and all that she was about to reveal.

It had been years since it was safe for her to visit her grandparents, years since she'd seen her mother or her little brother, Souta. She had made many trips before her father had sealed the well, making it impossible to for her to visit.

Now that Kagome knew who she was, however, there was no reason she couldn't drop by for some well-deserved family time, after she broke the news to Inuyasha's tachi, of course.

Perhaps it was time to fake the death of the old miko she had postured to be for so long. Perhaps it was time to continue protecting the village's inhabitants from a safer distance. After all, she couldn't live forever in the same form and already some of the older villagers grew suspicious and timid towards her.

Her heart overflowed at the prospect of just being herself, even if it just meant she could remain in her true form.

She longed to get back into the fight against Naraku. Oh, she'd had her moments during her adolescence and even on a few occasions, alongside her younger sister and Inuyasha. But in order to maintain her illusion as an old woman, she was unable to reveal her power to the others and consequentially, Naraku.

Her lips turned down in a slight frown. Even when it meant her family or friends' lives could be at stake, she had been forced to stay her hand, her performance always exercised at the barest minimum. And then they'd come sauntering back with one of them gravely injured or the lot of them gravely injured and always near starving. Now that Kagome knew who she was, didn't that mean it was ok to be herself?

To maintain her responsibilities protecting the village to be sure but couldn't she stop pretending to be an old human now and live her life?

She thought so, she smirked. She would be free of this last responsibility given by her father in his last wishes on this earth. She had faithfully fulfilled them all.

She muttered a short prayer to him resting in peace with Kami as she walked. She knew Kagome was going to need all the support she could get when she came home to face her friends. After all, the person they had all come to love and trust their lives with was about to give them a big surprise, a surprise that could alter the very nature of the association she held with them.

All of which was happening during a vulnerable, self-conscious period in Kagome's life. She knew her sister would be feeling insecure with her identity already and having those closest to her reject not who but _what_ she was could be devastating to her self image and ego at a time when their approval mattered so much.

Kaede offered an olive branch of understanding to the group before Kagome could come back from beyond the well and any confrontations could ensue. If she could save her sister the time of explaining everything and prep the tachi to be ready for her arrival, she guessed things would go much smoother.

Of course, she knew the Inu brothers already knew, if Kagome's story was anything to go by. Sesshomaru definitely knew. She'd caught his scent outside her hut the day before while giving Kagome their father's letter to her and decided not to question the Western Lord's interest in her little sister. A match like that she could smile upon.

The approval of which didn't carry over to his younger sibling, Inuyasha, to whom she'd grown up seeing with her older sister, Kikyo.

Immediately dismissing the thought of her older, reanimated sibling and her coupling with Inuyasha, she guessed the hanyou had sensed enough of her younger sister's release to at least suspect it highly.

The slayer was no doubt oblivious as well as the kit but the monk was another story entirely. He no doubt held his own suspicions as to his friend's current condition but would be far more likely to remain the tight-lipped observer, watching and noting over time until a general consensus could be drawn to the truth.

It was no matter. She had trained Kagome to release away from her companions in the safety of the Modern Era for this reason and she had wisely heeded her warnings up until this point. What did it matter now that Kagome knew the truth? She should thank them, really. It was their suspicion that led to her sister's queries and her own subsequent freedom.

When she was sure she was in the thickest part of the forest before the clearing, Kaede stopped in her journey and closed her eyes softly in deep concentration. The cheerful wildlife seemed to falter around her to a dead stop as she felt her powers growing inside her breast, intent to follow her will.

She flared her aura to see what proximity she was from other roaming creatures, smirking when it bounced off the presence of only Inuyasha's group, still a good distance away and sleeping soundly from the feel of them.

Her form suddenly lined itself in a warm golden hue before a white flash of light revealed her true form. Her wrinkle-free fingers came up to touch her smooth cheeks softly, loving the smooth surface under her fingertips and absently tracing the thin, royal purple, curvy stripes that she knew now adorned each cheek, knowing their paths from memory.

She sighed once before ripping away the old, leather eye patch and letting it fall to the ground. It revealed another perfect, pale-lavender iris speckled with bursts of amber and lined with royal purple.

She pulled the tie of her hair knot and freed her now massively thick mane of lilac-silver hair before quickly disrobing and dressing in a dark Grey, silk yukata lined with falling lilac lotus flowers that matched her hair.

Her fingers combed through the opalescent strands appreciatively, braiding random long braids throughout her flowing tresses. She had missed the silky perfection that was a demon's hair.

She simply couldn't resist donning her old outfit, even it was over doing it. She missed the way the material brought out the color of her hair and she was sick of having all the symptoms of a real old mortal; sore muscles, arthritis, aching bones- not a pleasant position for a demon that could be free of such restraints in an instant.

Truly, her parents had raised a remarkably patient daughter in her, she mused, smirking victoriously and licking her old pair of fangs with familiar ease as she her wiggled her toes into her sandals.

She knew that it would be easier on everyone were she to stay in her original form before breaking the news; knew that it was impractical to go about things the way she was, even unwise. But she would not let that stop her, she decided. It was time for everyone to become acquainted with the real Kaede; she would hide behind illusionary barriers no longer.

When she was satisfied with the 5 long braids, two on each side and one in the back, she stowed away her miko garb in the satchel she slung back around her shoulders after fastening her belt and quiver around her waist. Lastly, the bow was slung across her back before she continued her trek in the direction of Inuyasha and the others, all silent thoughts resolved for the time being.

A sudden burst of wind picked up and with it came the scent of Inuyasha's tachi, Sesshomaru's scent dominating the others'.

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**An: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	11. Memories

**AN- Most of this chapter ( italicized text ) is basically a recap of the 'Beneath the Twinkling Stars' episode of Inuyasha, the Final Act, where Kikyo passes away. Kagome just relives the memory in her sleep. Her brain needs to reanalyze all her past memories of her time spent with Kikyo. If you've seen the episode you don't necessarily have to read the chapter but it all ties together eventually and I should warn you that some reminders may help your future understanding of the storyline. : )**

Throughout the night, Kagome's dreams became entwined with her memories of the past. Memories of Kikyo and Kaede, her sisters and all the interactions she'd shared with them since she first fell through the well.

Kaede was kind, helpful, wise and sage like. Just the person she looked for in a tense situation, someone intelligent to talk to about her problems, someone she had always been able to trust her very life with.

Even in the first moment they saw each other, when she was pelted in the face with purifying salt, she trusted her. She smiled at the memory, knowing now why she had been confused at the old miko's expression in that moment, one she had never before understood or been able to read: amusement and joy, concealed behind a necessary facade of ignorance and the right amount of serious concern.

She'd always considered Kaede the grandmother she never had, now to realize that image for something else entirely...The truth was, Kaede was not an old woman, but a beautiful, powerful demoness in her prime and she was not her grandmother but her sister.

Her head spun trying to process the information.

At least she'd had a fair amount of bonding time with her. The relationship she had shared with Kikyo during the time she was reanimated in the beginning was awkward, distorted by jealousy, resentment, loneliness on both their parts and emotional pain.

It was only near Kikyo's second demise that she felt they really understood each other, finding common ground in none other than their shared bond with Inuyasha. Their hearts' desires reflected the same, again and again each found themselves aiding the other, despite their differences and resolved feelings of loyalty because in the end, both of them were striving for the same goal.

For a short time, both of their hearts belonged to him, leaving them no choice but to work together in order to achieve these common goals. There was never any room for conflict or competition between them when both were so entirely focused on the life-altering consequences of what was constantly happening around them.

When Kikyo tried to drag Inuyasha to hell, Kagome reasoned with herself that the woman had undergone tremendous amounts of emotional pain when her life ended.

When she took nearly half the jewel from her own person and handed it over to Naraku, she had told herself that she had her reasons and they couldn't be so far from the Inutachi's own.

It turned out she'd been right about all of her assumptions, as they later learned of her plan to purify Naraku and the jewel together.

But even regarding her relationship with Inuyasha, Kagome had always put Kikyo first, had always accepted the fact that she was second best and always would be. Slowly, her admittance to Kikyo's importance to him began to dry those feeling until all that remained was the loyalty she felt for her friends, Kikyo and Inuyasha included.

She sent Inuyasha after her the moment she felt her presence every time, knowing she was weak from battling Naraku and vulnerable. She worried for her, fought for her, protected her, cared about her. Loved her.

They had shared a special bond not only recognized in their shared love of Inuyasha but in their shared souls. Linked together, they could always feel when the other was nearby.

Now to know they had blood in common as well made the loss of that bond fresh in her mind, though nearly eight months had passed since her death.

When she had been led to Kikyo by her Shimidaichu, tainted and dissolving beneath the surface of a waterfall, her heart, mind and body did not hesitate to plunge to the bottom and purify her wound, even if it meant she might drown.

So, when she had been tainted by Naraku's spiderwebs and asked for Kagome's help, she had tried to save her. She had done everything she could, everything she was told.

_"My salvation requires using this bow to shoot my wound and purify Naraku's contamination."_ Kikyo told her the only way to purify the spider webs was to get a special bow and shoot her with a sacred arrow, that she would not make it in time if Kagome did not truly wish to save her.

But she _did_ truly wish it and she _did_ get the bow, Kagome thought with conviction. But it hadn't been enough or at least...not what they were expecting.

Her brow furrowed as her dream recalled another vivid memory and a dreadful anticipation marred her features as she began to toss in her sleep.

They were just in time to find a dying Kikyo in the hands of Naraku.

Kagome leapt from Inuyasha as he transformed his sword to the Dragon scaled Tetsusaiga, slicing through Naraku's demonic vortex in an attempt to drain his jaki. At first, it seemed to have no effect but then the Adamant-spear limb suddenly burst open, revealing a hole that resembled space, so black was the darkness inside of Naraku's body.

Inside this blackness, Kagome caught a glint of light in the dead center. "That's...the Shikon! Inuyasha! The shard is inside his body!" she shouted, cupping her hands to make her voice carry.

Inuyasha nodded he understood before turning back to Naraku with a scowl. "I'll cut through you AND the shard!" he declared forcefully, brandishing his sword.

Naraku smirked, his hold on Kikyo tightening.

It all happened in a few seconds. One moment, Inuyasha was preparing to deal another devastating blow, the next, Naraku had released Kikyo, sending her fragile body plummeting down the cliff face.

Inuyasha had no choice but to retreat after the woman he loved, his swift movements only just enough to catch her before her delicate body impacted with the ground.

"Kikyo, hang in there, Kikyo!" he ordered, lying her down softly to continue the fight.

Koga jumped for the hole before it could close but just as he was nearing it, the shard disappeared. Kagome tried to scream that it was gone, to come back, but he was too close. Naraku's tentacles pulled him in, lost somewhere in the spears of adamant on Naraku's shoulder that has previously protected the now missing shard. She could still sense his Koga's shards, though and knew he was still alive.

"Koga's shards have darkened.." Kagome commented darkly from the sidelines, seeing and feeling the shift in power above her head.

"We have to hurry. Where? Where is Naraku's shard?" Kagome pleaded to no one on the cliff by herself. Panic began to prickle across her skin, trickling like ice water down her spine. They were running out of time.

"My power isn't enough to find it," she assumed quietly, falling to the edge of the cliff in defeat to peer over at Kikyo for help.

"Tell me, Kikyo!" An incredulous gasp claimed her throat before she realized what horrible realization had caused it. There, lying in the dead center of Kikyo's chest, was the tainted Shikon fragment.

_'Is that... the Shikon shard? Naraku hid it inside of Kikyo?'_ her mind reeled to her shockingly.

As she peered, a light drew her attention over her shoulder to see a swarm of Kikyo's soul collectors filling the sky, more than Kagome or anyone had ever seen at once, carrying several souls to their mistress.

They rose magnificently like a wave and then barreled towards Kikyo's position at the bottom of the cliff. As they neared, her almond, sharp eyes sprang open, fixed on Kagome's.

_'Now.'_ Kagome heard her sharp command clearly in her mind.

_'Kikyo...now, right?'_ Kagome thought in response even as she threaded and arrow and pulled back, taking aim. She felt completely at ease, trusting Kikyo's words entirely.

_'You want me to shoot now, right?'_

Naraku caught the slight movement of her drawing her bow out of the corner of his eye while fighting Inuyasha. "The girl has found the jewel?" he said with disbelief, sending an appendage flying towards her.

They slammed into the cliff she stood on, sending Kagome plummeting head-first down the drop off towards Kikyo.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed in horror, his entire body instantly lunging for her position despite knowing there was no way he'd make it in time.

Kikyo's soul stealers dived in that moment and wrapped their snake like bodies around her like a net, steadying her as she drew her bow again, aiming for Kikyo's chest and the tainted Shikon. Her expression was one of grim determination and absolute faith, a look that made Naraku instantly aware of a feeling none other had ever managed to invoke in him save the two mikos- Alarm.

"Curse you!" Naraku spat, sending another barrage of tentacles towards Kikyo to reclaim the shard.

_'He's trying to take it back!'_ Kagome's brain screamed wildly. Her hands instinctively tightened around the bow, her fingers pulling harder than she'd ever pulled before.

"I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" she screamed as her arrow erupted with a powerful blast of light. She let go, releasing possibly the most powerful arrow she'd ever created.

Time slowed down in her mind at the recollection of her arrow zooming down towards the same spot Naraku's tentacles raced to reach, both making a nearly perfect 'v' from their opposite sides, her heart racing, begging, pleading, praying the arrow had made it first.

Then, Kikyo's eyes fixed on Naraku as the shaft of the arrow pierced her chest and the shard, purifying it and Naraku's tentacles in one blow.

Pink light filled from the spot in her chest, then suddenly released rapidly in the direction of Naraku, Kagome's purifying arrow, the purified Shikon shard, along with all the remaining spiritual power Kikyo possessed annihilated Naraku's barrier and embedded itself in his chest.

Their power battled together inside the jewel, each vying for dominance as lightening-like tendrils of Kikyo's spiritual power crackled and licked across Naraku's form, obviously putting him in a world of pain as he screamed in surprised agony. Massive pieces of his body were discarded one after the other, falling from the sky in giant heaps of sizzling flesh in an attempt to isolate the energy and cut it off from the main body.

Kagome had thought it was over, then. She'd thought Naraku had finally been defeated, the jewel completed and used to destroy him forever.

"Kikyo, can you see it? Naraku is in pain," she tried to explain what she was seeing.

"Kago...me. The rest...is up..to you," Kikyo whispered faintly.

"Huh?" Kagome wondered at her words, before realizing the victor above her, a hollow, sinking feeling low in her gut. Naraku's energy had overcome, tainting the jewel all but for one single point of light.

He laughed victoriously above their heads, maniacal laughter that chilled and sickened a person to the bone. "I won," he declared, continuing to laugh.

"Kagome," Kikyo called softly, "Protect the last shard. Protect Kohaku's light. You are the only one who can do this."

"What are you saying? Pull yourself together! I can't possibly...Kikyo! Wasn't shooting you with the bow and purifying your wound supposed to save you?" Kagome screeched, terror lining her words.

Naraku laughed above them, lowering himself closer to the two mikos. "Kikyo, you lose," he declared calmly, sending an appendage towards her in an attempt to claim her remaining life.

Kagome threw her body over her, refusing to allow anymore damage to come to the elder priestess, even if it meant her life.

_'Naraku,'_ Kikyo thought,_ 'You will know if I lost or not when you die.'_

Inuyasha dove between the attack just in time, severing the tentacles off before they could reach their targets. "Naraku, you bastard!" he accused viciously, Tetsusaiga held poised for another attack.

"Heh! Only one shard remains. I shall watch how you fight without Kikyo."

Inuyasha gasped and turned around, just remembering the state of his first love.

"Kikyo!"

Naraku laughed sinisterly. "Kikyo is finished! She lost to my demonic energy!" he declared and in a swirl of purple smoke, was gone.

"Inuyasha, hurry!" Kagome called to him, her words strained. "Kikyo is..."

It seemed as the memory continued that Kagome was aware of the fact that she was dreaming, her cheeks aware of the cold wetness of her pillow, steadily soaking up more tears. But she also knew that she had to face it again with this new information, felt she had gained a new window in which to view the realities of her world. Necessity, curiosity and a passionate desire for clarity resolved her to face every heart-wrenching moment, to relive it.

So she allowed the dream scape to continue, nourishing her inner wounds as she recalled the blood-red sunset and Inuyasha's rough, strained voice as he asked if they could be alone.

The overwhelming pain she felt at those words; loss, regret, grief, shock, denial, inferiority.

She remembered feeling isolated, suffocated in an attempt to swallow the truth that Kikyo was going to die. Inadequacy and defeat crippled her in this moment and the hallow realization that things between her and Inuyasha would never be the same after this night caused her to immediately sit where she stood and bury her head in her knees.

She wasn't even powerful enough to save the happiness of the person she loved. Kikyo was that happiness, she knew and she had tried to save her. But it wasn't enough and when she really thought about it, nothing she ever did seemed to add up. It was never enough.

She would never be...good enough.

They walked a little ways down the hill, the silhouette of Inuyasha holding his first love, their red hakamas blending together as he cradled her gently in his arms and whispered their last words together. Her long, midnight hair spilled over his arm to fan around them in the grass, making a kind of halo about her pale face. The smooth surface of her flesh seemed to glow iridescently against the moonlight as she leaned her head against his chest comfortably, her eyes softly shut. Kagome had never seen her look more beautiful.

_'I'm sorry, Kikyo, I'm so sorry!'_ her heart had cried for forgiveness.

An answer to that cry sounded softly in her mind.

_'Do not cry, Kagome. It was my soul that was saved.'_

The silent admission caused Kagome to weep even more deeply, the pain inside her elevated at the realization that Kikyo knew she was going to die and simply wished Naraku's taint to be purified so her soul would go to heaven. She had never even graced the thought of survival, which Kagome felt, after the life she'd been given, she deserved at least the thought of a chance.

But now she understood that the only hope Kikyo had ever allowed herself upon her resurrection was the hope to defeat Naraku once and for all so that all the people he killed and all the pain he'd inflicted could finally rest in peace. So her soul could rest in peace.

She merely wished to hang on long enough to deal the biggest blow in the most critical moment and to ease the hearts and minds of those still fighting against him.

Miroku bowed his head, taking a deep breath next to Sango. It immediately caught her attention, as the shaky, instability of his voice caused her face to soften with concern.

"I had a chance to destroy Naraku with the wind tunnel before Lady Kikyo ended up this way," he strained to admit calmly.

"Houshii-sama.." Sango whispered.

"But I was scared of dying and hesitated to open it," he spat, disgusted with himself.

"Even though it was Lady Kikyo who saved my life...I..." his voice broke in the end as he fisted his cursed hand, trembling and Sango saw perhaps for the first time tears in her monk's eyes and pain like he'd never shown to her before.

He looked up as he felt a pair of warm hands rest softly on his own and she felt tears rise in her eyes even as she gazed at him steadily, allowing the pain she felt to pass across her features and opening herself up for him to see.

"I'm sure Kikyo wanted you to survive, for my sake," she whispered.

"Sango..." he began, shaking his head as if to say it wasn't her fault.

She shook her head quickly in denial, her own voice breaking at the recollection as she looked away to reign in control of her emotions. "I hated Kikyo. She used my brother's life, Kohaku's shard, as a tool for defeating Naraku. In my heart, I was prepared to kill her in order to protect him.

"But...after I saw Kikyo try to save Koga, I realized that...she may have been fighting to protect Kohaku's life," she finished in a rush, the tears spilling freely down her cheeks at the confession.

She was silenced when Miroku pulled her firmly against his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her form as she sobbed against him freely.

Koga sat by Kagome, who had her head buried in her arms. He was missing his jewel shards but he was alive and he wondered if that was how Midoriko had wanted it all along. If that was how Kikyo had wanted it.

He was stirred from his thoughts when Kagome's sob-filled voice sounded softly beside him.

"I...I couldn't do...a-anything. If only I'd had more power...If I had come sooner, Kikyo wouldn't have..." her voice trailed off as her face disappeared back into her arms, her sobbing renewed as her small body shook with the force of it.

Koga stared forward, a grim expression on his face.

"Damn Naraku. He really didn't want Kikyo and Inuyasha to meet. But...you came in time."

Kikyo's soft voice carried over to them across the clearing as she initiated the last conversation she would ever have with the love of her life.

"Back then..." she whispered softly, "Do you remember, Inuyasha? Long before Naraku tore us apart...when I asked you to become human?"

He nodded softly. "How could I ever forget? Back then, I was ready to become human and live with you." His arms squeezed a little tighter, not wanting to let go.

She surprised him by smiling softly, her voice breaking with a sad confession. "I have finally become an ordinary woman."

The silence that followed, the tension in Inuyasha's shoulders as he heaved with sobs no one in the tachi had ever seen before brought tears to everyone's eyes, even Koga, who turned away from the sight of him breaking down, his own tears making trails down his cheeks.

Everyone grieved in this moment, grieved because they hadn't understood Kikyo for who she truly was but for a short time. Everyone had misunderstood her intentions, had accused her, had suspected her and she had endured all of that just for the chance to take out Naraku. She was willing to pay the price of being misunderstood, of forfeiting that love and understanding, that companionship, from the beginning to avoid being found out in order to succeed.

She never complained or voiced her hardship. She never shied away from the consequences of a fight. She helped everyone, despite her own personal feelings, indiscriminately. The miko in Kikyo never died, Kagome mused. Underneath the cold, hard exterior was a softer, warmer shell that loved freely and openly. It only hurt more to know that she had only just discovered this wonderful side of the undead priestess before she would be taken away forever.

"Kikyo..." Inuyasha's voice trembled, husky with steady sobs. Heat filled his face and he could already feel the wetness. He swallowed hard. "You were the first woman I ever cared for and yet..." he brokenly admitted, stray tears falling from his cheeks to splash against her own, causing her tired eyes to open. "I couldn't do anything for you..." he continued, his arms beginning to quake with emotion as he held her.

A light, sad smile found her face as she regarded him, beyond honored to bear witness to this moment and feeling more cherished by him than she ever remembered. An old, buried sensation filled her with nostalgia, easing anciently suppressed agony and she was overwhelmed with gratitude that she could feel those things one last time. "This is the first time I've seen you cry, Inuyasha."

"Kikyo!" he roared brokenly, openly sobbing at the unfairness of it all. "I...I-I couldn't save you!" he cried out, his fangs flashing in the moonlight.

"You...came for me," her fragile, small voice carried to him with sweet truth and simplicity as she smiled with unconditional love. "That's enough."

They shared a heart-wrenching kiss, both crying freely. As she pulled away, the breath left her body with a sigh and with a light popping sound, like a bubble bursting, her body blinked into several large, warm orbs of light that passed through them all before rising to the stars.

Inuyasha gazed up at the night sky brokenly.

Kagome's heart clenched as she remembered approaching him.

"Inuyasha?"

"I didn't want Kikyo to endure any more sorrow," he answered her without moving his gaze.

"I wanted to protect her forever."

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	12. Confident Resolve

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome awoke from the memory shaking, her face wet with tears. She forced her head back to the tear-soaked pillow and held her eyes shut, thinking she would never get back to sleep.

Her head pounded from the emotional barrage of bottled grief and loss, now renewed in light of new information. Why did Kikyo have to be sacrificed? Her father? Did everyone involved with the jewel have to die? Would Kaede be next, or her? If she did not succeed, would Souta one day have to take her place?

Her mind reeled with similar questions that seemed to form constantly with no evident answers forthcoming. Knowing this train of thought was futile, her mind intentionally displayed another topic, soothing the sting of her earlier recollections.

After an hour of thoughtless musing, she was dreaming again.

_"Kagome, Kagome, you are a bird in a cage..."_ She heard the children singing, could almost feel them spinning around her. It was the old nursery rhyme, the one they used to sing when she was still in grade school.

_"Crane and Turtle slip and fall, Who stands behind you now?"_ She always hated that game. She didn't know how, but she'd always known who stood behind her.

_"Kagome, why were you given the name 'Kagome'? That name holds a special power: a power hidden within you since you were born. You are a bird in a cage. You can never leave."_

Lady Hitomiko's voice rang back at her, the priestess Naraku murdered and brought back to life to kill her. Now the words seemed to be infused with new meaning.

_"Kagome, why are you Kagome? If you cannot understand that, then it is your fate to be incinerated by the fires of Hell. Remember!"_

And she had. She remembered the symbol her mother showed her that she saw shining from her chest on the day she was born. The symbol was called _'Kagome.'_ Her very name had come from the Shikon Jewel, inspired by the light her mother spied from the seal left behind from Magetsuhi, the negative force within the tiny orb.

So the power she had been born with was insight, she guessed, given her ability to always know who stood behind her. It was this revelation that led her to victory that day, when she spied Naraku behind the priestess and fired at her chest. The arrow disappeared right before impact with the other miko and reappeared behind her, incinerating Naraku before instantly purifying his hold over Hitomiko.

But was her gift of insight and her sealed spiritual power the only implications mentioned when they parted ways?

"You are a true mystery," Hitokmiko had said right before passing on. "You used your own power and the spiritual power of the bow to shatter the evil presence and save me. However, your power only appeared in the instant you released the arrow. Something is sealing your true power. You are such a mysterious person. Your power...your name..." she had trailed off as the spirit left her body.

Something was sealing her holy power, she thought, but it wouldn't make much difference for much longer. At least she knew she didn't have to wait for Magetsuhi to be defeated before getting back into the fight.

She would come of age soon, she realized and everything she'd come to know about her body and possibly her mind would change. There wasn't much time to mentally prepare before it would happen. From what she gathered so far, she assumed it would be a sudden, momentary experience.

Had Hitomiko known her true race all along? Was everything she said meant to prepare her for this?

The sounds of distant birds singing overhead brought her around to staring out the window into the sky, just noticing the first rays of dawn.

Kagome's brow furrowed as the sound of several sharp knocks on her door shook her from a sound sleep.

"Yea?" she answered groggily, her vocal cords still hoarse from disuse. Her mother's cheery voice caused her to frown irritably.

"Kagome, dear, I've fixed you some late breakfast. I let you sleep until after Noon, it's time to get up now."

"Okay, thanks Mom," she agreed weakly, yawning tiredly and stretching in her bed.

Resisting the urge to bury her head under the nearest pillow, she sighed, looking up at the ceiling and running her fingers through her hair.

How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was her mother telling her...

That's right.

She wasn't human. Her whole family wasn't human. Her whole life, her school, her friends, everyone she'd ever met- she had lied to them all, deceived them all without ever even knowing it. Her hand came up in front of her face and she examined it carefully, taking in even the slightest details, the soft blue veins beneath the skin, the wrinkles in her palm, as if she would find some clue to her immortal lineage before huffing with frustration and letting it fall uselessly back to the covers.

She realized her birth was not her fault and rationalized that she couldn't possibly have deceived anyone if she herself were not aware of the truth to begin with.

Thinking of her birth, she remembered what her mother had said about her own. She was born on the other side of the well. When had her mother said? Thirty years after Kikyo's death? How old was she? That part hadn't come up in their conversation but from what her mother had told her, she could guess she was still almost eighteen. The Godai Inuyoukai aged like regular humans until their transformation so at least she had that going for her. Kaede also said that when she first came through the well and freed Inuyasha that 50 years had passed since Kikyo's death but Kagome bet she meant 47, since she was not yet 18. She sighed with relief as the sinking feeling that she was hundreds of years old vanished and managed a light, dry laugh.

It was hard to take in.

Several of the people she'd met in the Feudal Era had turned out to be members of her own immediate family. People whom, upon first meeting, she had regarded as someone she would know only until the jewel was gone from this world. A necessary association, though not unpleasant, was no where near as profound as the relationship built with her blood relatives.

Like Totosai- while always civil and polite, she wished she'd known he was her grandfather. When she looked back on it, it seemed like he did treat her a little differently from the others but not in a way that she would have noticed.

When it was true that her affections for Inuyasha remained existent, she had entertained the idea that she would stay in that time after the battle with Naraku was over and the jewel purified. But once she finally understood and accepted Inuyasha's true intentions, her continuing respect for those wishes seemed to rely on the strength she drew from her own world.

Her plans had changed, then, to return to her own Era and her family. She found quickly that the idea was easy to entertain as long as she was safely in the past, but the longer she lingered in the present time, the more she itched to go running to the well house and throw herself down its welcoming depths.

As much as she loved her family, she simply couldn't forget the bonds of friendship she had forged with her friends. She quickly learned that a future without them in her life would be dull and dreary. They had all become her family. Sango was like an elder sister, Miroku like an elder brother. Inuyasha was like a loud, teasing cousin and Shippo irrevocably held a spot in her heart as her own son.

Not to mention her love of the landscape in the Feudal Era, pollution-free skies, asphalt-free ground, forest as far as the eye can see- she had become accustomed with the security of being able to disappear in a thickly wooded area, to bathe without worrying about someone walking up on you, to drink from the river stream without worrying about unknown contaminates.

Her decision to go or stay became a difficult topic, one she eventually would not even ponder in her own head, much less converse with others. Shame filled her heart every time she thought about abandoning them for the present time. She couldn't believe she'd ever even considered it and wanted to say she'd never do so again.

But her real family always held a trump card in this regard. As much as it pained her to consider leaving her friends, there was always her own family in the present time to consider and she would be abandoning them were she to stay. Someone was always left out of the loop no matter what she planned and Kagome didn't like it one bit.

Now that she knew the story behind her family, however, things would be different. There was no more pressure to decide which side to abandon when she knew her family in this time belonged in the past. She imagined they would come home either once Souta came of age or Naraku was defeated. Knowing that she wouldn't have to make such a terrible choice, Kagome felt a great weight lift off her shoulders as her breathing evened out.

It was also a great relief to know that the well wasn't tied to the jewel's power but her family's and the seals they'd placed in the past and future to keep it contained. At least now she didn't have to worry about destroying the jewel and being stuck with a 500 year barrier between her and her family or being magically transported to the future. All those possible scenarios were released and it left her feeling lighter than ever.

As much as she'd learned, there was still much she didn't know and hadn't had the time to ask about yet. Confusion and restless anticipation prevailed beneath a sleepy exterior.

Her mother had said her grandmother and grandfather lived in the Feudal Era, Totosai and Midoriko. She knew that her Gramps was her father's father and his wife (who she was told had passed away) was her father's mother, so her mother must be referring to her own parents.

She briefly remembered being a kid and asking about her Mom's side. She thought she could remember being told that they had died and that was the first time she'd heard about death and wanted to know more. That was before her Dad died, followed by her Grandma.

But from what her mother told her last night, those grand parents weren't dead and currently live in the Feudal Era.

Her hands clasped both sides of her head in an effort to stop the spinning sensation she felt every time she tried to think about it. She knew Totosai still lived as the famed sword smith of Inu no Taisho and creator in part of both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga; but Midoriko? Why had her mother said they both '_lived_' in the past?

Midoriko, she knew, was the priestess who had died fighting a demon. Her existence, coupled with the demon she fought, made up what was the Shikon Jewel. If her soul was in the jewel, there was no way she could have survived... right? Could her mother have meant Midoriko's spirit lived on with the jewel? That didn't sound right.

Her grandmother's soul trapped within the pieces of an object twinkling with dark malevolence in Naraku's hands. She scowled at the thought.

The battle for the Jewel seemed so much more important now that she knew the story behind everything. Her own father had given his life just to give her a shot at finally defeating Naraku. He had died at the half-demon's hands, she was sure. It sickened her, repelled her and worst of all, it scared her to death.

If she had been intimidated before, nothing could quite prepare her for what she felt regarding her enemy now. He had killed her father; how could she possibly surpass him? She was just a teenage girl on the brink of womanhood, she hadn't even manifested her true powers yet. Her father had been fully in control of his own when he died.

How could anyone expect this of her, she wondered? When she thought of all the people in her family, she seemed the least qualified to handle such a difficult task. But she had been born with the Jewel in her body. That, alone, was irrefutable proof that her destiny was tied to this fate. Would she knowingly hand over the responsibility now to Kaede, perhaps?

No. The mere thought was horrendous to her and sent shivers down her spine at the unknown consequences of that choice. Although she trusted her sister's capability, she felt a dreadful alarming sensation arise in her gut at the thought, telling her no other should be appointed to the task. She would not wish this burden on her worst enemy and she could not trust it with her closest friend.

Her bangs shadowed her misty eyes at the realization. She was resigned, then, to accept her new path.

Rising from the comfort of her own bed, Kagome picked out some clothes and stumbled to the bathroom, feeling a stone-cold hardness grow inside herself.

_'Resolve'_ she thought bitterly, _'Is colder than ice and harder than diamonds. I can feel it settling inside me, preparing me for what is to come. It steadies me when I falter, it answers me when I question and it propels me forward when I've lost the will to move._

_'I feel unsteady inside, shaky. I tremble and weaken to forces I didn't know I was fighting.' _Her hands shook against the handles of the faucet.

_'This resolve hardens within me, trying to steady this feeling. I know now what I'm holding back and my resolve to do so wanes but my desire to complete the jewel and destroy Naraku must persevere above all else. Come what may, I will still be there to protect my friends in whatever form I am capable.'_ she finished with conviction. Her hands gripped the handle steadily as she started up the water and peeled off the black tank top she'd adorned the day before, followed by the matching black peasant skirt which was now covered in wrinkles from sleeping in it.

The hot water was steaming when her feet made contact first, followed by her shins and knees, accompanied with a hiss of satisfaction as Kagome felt her muscles succumbing to the heat and pressure of the water. She inched closer, moaning in outright appreciation as the water began hitting her stomach and then her breasts.

This last months' traveling had worn her body down. Surviving off Ramen could be dangerous, she'd found. A bowl a day is certainly not enough to sustain a person and short of when she was under her mother's roof, she could scarcely remember to eat again before falling asleep shortly after breaking camp. Her muscles screamed their objections as the hot water rolled off her in steamy waves.

Holding her breath and closing her eyes, she rose her face into the stream, rubbing away the last evidence of sleep.

For her birthday one year, her mother had gotten her a line of bath products in her favorite scent, Vanilla Sugar. She had the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, body spray, and deodorant. In fact, it was such a hit and lasted so long, that her mother bought it every Christmas, knowing her daughter adored her 'bath time.'

She turned the opposite direction, letting the water hit the back of her head to spill down her shoulders and torso, soaking her hair. Once that was finished, she took her time washing her hair, making sure to scrub hard at her scalp. She repeated the process two times, wanting to be sure she was clean before conditioning the now tangled mass and lathering up her body to shave her legs and armpits.

A glance at her nether regions said the same old thing; there was no need for shaving. She was certainly not well endowed when it came to that category. A single, thin trail was all that marked her womanhood and it was the closest thing she had besides her budding breasts that proved her maturity. She was not just going to shave away the little progress she'd down there! Those had only just begun to grow, as it were. They were so few in number shaving would be considered ridiculous. It would be like a little boy shaving his whole face because of a few stray, coarse hairs that grew on his chin. She giggled at the thought.

She lingered a bit longer in the warm water after rinsing, stretching this way and that until she finally felt satisfied.

The water cut off with a groan as she turned the final knob and stood, adjusting to the change in temperature.

She wrapped her hair in a towel before drying the rest of her body off and applying the lotion, rubbing it in carefully to every limb before stepping out and getting dressed.

A pleasantly thin, dark blue, peasant-style top with wide, flowing sleeves and a built in bra (chosen for convenience and comfort for the current time line she would soon be in) was pulled over her head to cover her torso while a matching cotton mini skirt in the same style as her uniform's covered her bottom. She liked the square cut of the peasant shirt's neckline, how it went straight across the top of her breasts to give the slightest tease of cleavage while supporting them comfortably. She also had experience with fighting in this one and she found she liked the room the sleeves provided when she was drawing her bow and the support the built in bra provided her breasts when running was necessary. It kept them them from bouncing all over the place. Plus, the material was thin and soft, perfect for enduring the dense humidity of the Japanese Feudal Era and sheer so it was light and durable. It remained tight at the bust but flowed loosely the rest of the way, covering the top of the skirt in a flowing manner around her waist.

The skirt was equally comfortable, allowing her legs free movement like her old green one and offering no restriction to her movements. When she spun in circles, it fanned out around her, giving her legs the kind of moving room necessary when running is almost always a requirement in her day to day life. She decided she approved of the new outfit and stepped into her favorite pair of black flats.

She pulled the towel off her head and surveyed herself in the mirror carefully, approving of her mother's most recent splurge to get her into a new wardrobe. The last few gifts had been disastrous, but this attempt deserved merit.

She worked some hair serum into her locks before brushing them out and gathering them into a high pony tail, leaving her bangs and the long locks of her side burns loose to curl as they air-dried.

After brushing her teeth and tweezing her eyes brows, she peered at the mirror carefully.

In the twenty-four hour time period since she had been given her father's letter, she had already changed so much. She felt like a completely different person from the girl sitting across from Kaede yesterday morning, asking just the right questions. She knew that it was the acceptance of this truth lighting the way for this change and smiled, feeling a kind of personal strength residing inside herself she had never before acknowledged.

A new outfit made her feel more comfortable, like she was embracing the changes. But it was more than that. It empowered her self image, lifted her confidence and boosted her ego in the face of sudden anxiety regarding her physical being. Her psyche was calmly poised for the change, her mind following suit.

Before breaking her gaze from the mirror and heading to the kitchen, Kagome Higurashi declared she was ready for whatever Fate could throw at her.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	13. Secrets Unveiled

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome Higurashi entered the kitchen to find a plate on the table for her of blueberry pancakes, bacon and a cup of steaming coffee. Her mouth watered at the sight and smell, her belly rumbling in appreciation. The idea of eating made her weak in the knees as she realized exactly how hungry she was the moment the fragrance of the hot food wafted into her nostrils.

The group wouldn't mind her staying for breakfast, especially since they knew how serious she was about coming here when she left. The search for Kohaku would continue as soon as she got back, though she hadn't sensed him since he broke ways with Sesshomaru.

She pulled the chair out from the table and took her seat as her mother turned from the counter to greet her daughter.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she teased her softly. "Did you get a good night's rest?"

Kagome nodded warily, sipping her coffee. "I've thought about the things you said to me yesterday and everything I've learned so far and I have some questions," she implied carefully, watching her mother's reaction for the slightest change of expression. There was none save for a slight nod of acknowledgment.

"Well, eat your breakfast and when you're finished, just go ahead and ask them, dear," her mother encouraged gently.

"Okay," Kagome agreed and dug into the food in question gratefully. When she was full, she refilled her cup of coffee and after cleaning her plate, took a deep breath. "Ok, I'm ready," she called to her mother, who turned from the dishes and began drying her hands with a dish towel.

"Go ahead, dear," she said, taking a seat opposite her daughter and giving her her full attention.

"Ok. Kaede and Kikyo are my sisters," she stated matter of factually.

"Yes," her mother answered immediately.

"And Kikyo never knew about our family and our lineage, or Inuyasha?"

"No."

Kagome closed her eyes. Hearing the truth from her own mother's lips gave an air of finality to the situation that she desperately needed. Kaede really _was_ her sister and by that term, so was Kikyo. Kikyo, her older sister. Kikyo, who she had watched die for good in Inuyasha's arms. She took a deep breath, trying not to get lost in her field of questioning.

"Upon her resurrection, Kaede never told her the truth? Never hinted that her mother is still alive, that I'm her sister or that she has a younger brother, too?"

At this, her mother's eyes narrowed a fraction on her own. "Your sister was under strict orders by your father not to give any hints as to your true identity to anyone. She had to protect that image no matter what, that included not telling Kikyo about her new sister OR her new little brother."

"You're referring to Kaede?"

"Yes. Kagome, your father knew you would go back to the Era you were born in because...well, one because we knew you'd be drawn there, either by the jewel or your own instinct and two, your Gramps and I promised him it would happen."

Kagome's eyes widened with thoughts of her mother and Gramps conspiring to push her down the well before her mother could explain.

Mrs. Higurashi laughed and waved her hands 'no'. "Don't misunderstand, we meant if it didn't happen on its own, we would get you to go by telling you what the well does. We both agreed to wait until your 18th birthday, after the change and some training could be given. But Fate had other plans."

Kagome still looked confused. "So, what did Kaede tell her about you and Dad?"

Her mother gave her a dry look as Kagome nodded. "Right, 50 years had passed since she died, she would have expected her mortal parents to be long since dead.

"So, by this recollection, you knew Inuyasha the moment he came through our kitchen door all those years ago."

Her answer was a sly smile. "You have no idea how hard it was for your Gramps and I to not balk. Well, we _did_ actually balk but the two of you thought it was for totally different reasons."

Kagome scoffed as she took another sip of her coffee. "Yea, you were too busy telling me my story about falling into the well was in my head!"

Her mother laughed. "Well, we couldn't have very well have just taken it in stride, you would have sensed something was off!"

Kagome just couldn't wipe the incredulous look from her face. "You knew I would fall through the well."

"Yes."

"Were you aware that my soul would resurrect Kikyo?"

At this, her mother looked some what offended. "How could I have foreseen something like that? The circumstances were unmitigated. Sure, I had my suspicions your souls were linked when the presence of the Shikon became apparent, did I know or do I currently believe you are her reincarnation? No. I think apart of you may be, but an even bigger part of who you are has nothing to do with her. And the same can be said of Kikyo."

Kagome was confused, remembering Kaede's words. "But Kaede said-"

"Exactly what she believed. Your older sister and I have had many words on the subject and eventually agreed to disagree. We figured time would tell. Then you resurrected Kikyo and now Kaede is more convinced than ever."

"But doesn't that prove it?"

Mrs. Higurashi pursed her lips in thought as she pondered the easiest way to explain this to her daughter. "I think your soul was able to call her's back from the other side because of their similarity. You were sisters whose fates were tied to the jewel and whose hearts were currently tied to Inuyasha. It was Kikyo's own unfinished business, her passion to kill Naraku, her love for Inuyasha that chose to take the chance to be reincarnated, using you as a conduit. You were familiar to her _soul_, don't you see? Your voice, your memories and what you felt when Inuyasha called her name, when your heart skipped a beat. She had felt that, too. I believe _that_ is what called her forward."

Kagome nodded, contemplative as she and her mother fell into a comfortable silence. She helped herself to another cup, pouring in a drop of cream and spooning a bit of sugar into the black depths. Her eyes watched the light swirl with the dark, leaving behind a rich, caramel color. Just the way she liked it.

"So, are we like them? Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, I mean?" she asked timidly, silently waiting on baited breath for her mother's response.

"Yes and no. We are alike in several ways but in several ways we are also very different. To understand this, you must first know that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are different from each other in more ways than Inuyasha's diluted demon blood.

"Their father, the great Inu no Taisho, was your standard Inuyoukai. A pure breed, they called him, nothing else in the mix what so ever.

"As you know, Inuyasha's mother was human. Sesshomaru's mother, however, was a Snowmoon Godai Inuyoukai, a rare class with a completely different range of abilities."

Kagome's jaw dropped. Not only was her race incredibly similar to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's, but her mother spoke as if she knew their family from the inside out!

But she was confused... "I get the snow part of the equation, but where does the moon come in? I mean, is she also considered a Taiyoukai?"

Her mother nodded vigorously, her eyes wider than Kagome liked. "A step above, actually. She's more powerful than me or you or our whole family!" she exclaimed excitedly. She leaned in across the table as if she were about to share a piece of juicy gossip, her voice hushed as if she feared someone might overhear. "There's a legend that says their ties to the Moon exist because they are direct descendants of the Kami themselves."

Kagome resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration. "So, why have I never seen Sesshomaru use any of his elemental abilities?" she asked, the strain of trying to keep up with this never-ending story beginning to give her a massive migraine.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Well, when would he ever have benefited from invoking a blizzard or hailstorm on his victims? The poison he inherited from his father along with his other abilities are far more convenient and useful. Sesshomaru seems like the type of person to go with a more direct approach when it comes to killing someone.

"But isn't he dreamy when he starts swinging that sword around! Don't you feel like you should look away or something? It would be robbing the cradle for me, girl, but you got a real shot. Go for it, how can you resist?" her mother teased her mercilessly, only laughing louder as her daughter's fade darkened several shades of red.

"Wha-how-how do you know all this?" Kagome squealed, more embarrassed than she'd ever been in her whole life and terrified of this new side of her mother that could go from having a serious conversation to a gossiping, squealing, inappropriate school girl in a matter of seconds. Worse of all, she knew exactly what she meant, the realization of which was just too much to take in now of all times.

The mischievous smile that lit her mother's face then was terrifying. Kagome gulped, racking her brain for any topic that would get them as far away as possible from the current one. "You said both my grandparents were alive and living to your knowledge in the Feudal Era. That their names are Totosai and Midoriko."

Kagome's mother nodded 'yes', silently relieved her daughter could say these things out loud without loosing consciousness.

"Ok, Totosai I know is alive because we run into him on occasion since he crafted the Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga. But Midoriko died, mother, you have to know that. Her death _created_ the Jewel of Four Souls, I know you've heard me talking about it, or Gramps, even. But then I remembered you telling me how you grew up on stories of the Jewel, so I knew there was no way you overlooked that. So then I figured you must have just meant it figuratively, meaning that Midoriko's spirit carries on in the Jewel, which is mostly in the past."

At this, her mother tried to interrupt, but was silenced before speaking when Kagome raised her hand, gently asking for silence, her eyes closed lightly.

"I carried on thinking that until I thought about how important these answers were to me. You knew it was crucial to be bluntly honest with me now and giving an indirect, vague answer would confuse me at a time when I was determined to understand. If you meant Midoriko's soul in the Jewel, I trust you would have said so."

Kagome's mother sighed with what seemed to be relief as a small smile pulled at her lips. "Yes, this is where we left off and you fainted," she teased lightly, sipping at her coffee.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault! I was exhausted from traveling, too, so I must have just gone to sleep afterwards," she complained into her own cup.

Her mother chuckled in response. "You were right; when I said that both your grand parents were living in the Feudal Era, I did not mean it figuratively."

Kagome tried to cover up her shock by taking a rather large gulp of coffee.

"Oh?" she faked indifference, ignoring the obvious expression of amusement now dancing in her mother's eyes.

"Your grandmother did battle a great demon and she did create the Shikon no Tama. The imprint left in the cave near the Slayer's village is the imprint of the last of her holy power being dealt in a massive blow to the demon, when the jewel was created. She knew the moment of her transformation was near, so she had no fear about releasing her holy power for good. The effect was the birth of the Shikon no Tama, comprised not of the spirit of Midoriko or her soul, but of her spiritual powers."

Kagome stared at her mother, hoping what she thought was implied was right before speaking.

"So, Midoriko changed...into her true form, and survived the battle with Magetsuhi-"

"Minus her purification powers," her mother supplied her. "She did sacrifice them. They went into the jewel, making her the first Godai Inuyoukai to go into adulthood without her holy power. But her demonic powers increased ten fold to make up for it."

Kagome nodded that she understood, taking a moment to ponder at the fact that her elemental abilities were separate from her holy powers. "And without her purification powers, she had no power over the jewel. She couldn't even purify it," she suggested carefully.

"Yes and no. She had control over the Jewel's will only when it was purified; she had no control when it was tainted with malice. This continues to be true.

"She and Totosai, my father, at first they thought the Shikon was a permanent seal for the soul of Magetsuhi, but as hoards of demons continued to peruse the tiny orb, they began to realize it was much more.

"Years of balancing out its protection with that of their family began to take its toll and the fact that neither Midoriko or Totosai possessed spiritual powers did not help their position. The stress of their situation began to deteriorate their hold on it and one day it was stolen from their midst by a local kitsune.

"They decided not to go after the creature in the end, leaving the Jewel to its own devices. Midoriko couldn't control its power without it being purified and she lacked the power to purify it. Her mate was not strong enough to take on a demon enhanced by the Jewel's power alone and they had children to raise. Children who were not old enough to defend themselves, like me.

"It was a mistake, a powerful mistake to be sure. Midoriko felt compelled to fix things despite her disposition. But Totosai made her see that endangering her life further when she had children to raise and a mate to see to was folly. He insisted that they fake her death there and then so no other demons would come seeking their retribution, leaving them in peace.

"So the jewel was left in the hands of demons for 300 years, during which time I was born and raised. The Legend of the Jewel was well known as a bed time story for me by the very object of the story's focus: my mother, Midoriko, who I miss terribly. As a child, I often sensed something calling to me. As I grew older and learned the tale of the Jewel of Four Souls, I guessed the sensation I was having could be the power of the Jewel calling to me.

"The pull lured me one day away from the safety of my parent's protection and I learned to harness my holy power in much the same way that you learned, Kagome. I fought a fearsome Oni with the Jewel embedded into its forehead with a single Sai to defend myself! The Oni picked me up with one hand and began to lift my body to its mouth when I managed to free the Sai and cut him, though pathetically, with it. Lucky for me, that little prick had been laced with my holy power and the demon, along with the Jewel, was purified."

Kagome stared in awe, listening raptly to her mother's story and hanging on to every word.

"I was still just a little human girl. I think I must have been in shock. I sat there, clenching this strange bauble to my chest for hours just in a daze. That was the day your father and I met for the first time.

"He was a Storm Godai Inu that was running with the pack we were with at the time. Of course they were all in human form for the children's sake but he was handsome all the same.

"My parents had sent out a search party to find me when I did not return. He found me in the clearing holding onto the purified Shikon and a bloody Sai, beaten and shaky but alive. He carried me bridal style to my parent's doorstep, where my mother was waiting frantically. Your grandfather was still out looking with a few other pack members that were willing to volunteer, most of which were other parents that understood our panic. Your father went to tell them I had been found and when the men returned, everyone sat down to decided what would be done. They decided to commence protecting the Jewel again and we worked as a family to fend off demons that desired its power while we came up with a plan to destroy it forever.

"By the way, the Sai your father gave you is the Sai I defended myself with, minus one.

"Time moved on, nearly 100 years had passed and I had my first child, Kikyo. Kaede followed a few years after and we grew into a large, healthy family.

"After years of discussion, we decided that since the Jewel grants power to its possessor, it must react to the possessor's desire. A desire that was tainted with selfishness would no doubt only serve to give the Jewel more power but a desire that was completely pure and unselfish may have the potential to destroy the Jewel's power forever."

"The right wish," Kagome commented softly, reminded of the long winded talks she'd had with Kaede on the subject.

Her mother nodded.

"Kikyo was growing close to adulthood and proved herself countless times over as a capable protector. She, too, could feel the pull of the Jewel and her passion for seeing to its destruction, along with the premise we had set for her about a 'wish', led her to the idea of turning Inuyasha into a human.

"She presented the notion to us and your grandparents, both sides, before she ever approached Inuyasha with the possibility, hoping and expecting our combined support. He'd never met your father and I, his only interaction with the family being limited to a young Kaede and Kikyo, who was on the brink of maturity."

Here, she paused bowing her head at the memory. "We knew that Kikyo had developed feelings for Inuyasha and Inuyasha for her. We could see plainly that her case involved a dream of living her life with him, she as a normal woman and he, a normal man. While we were not opposed to the idea of their mating-"

"You couldn't allow the spell to take Inuyasha's demonic half when Kikyo would develop into a full demon a mere few months later," Kagome finished for her mother, her heart feeling crushed for Kikyo. She thought her whole family had turned her and her love of Inuyasha away.

Her mother nodded grimly. "After she made her case, we tried then to have this talk so she would understand. It was time to tell her the truth as she would come of age soon as it was.

"But after hearing our rebuttal, she would hear no more of our words. Weeks passed and she didn't speak to us. We all thought it would blow over, so we just waited for her to calm down and want to talk. We didn't want the revelation of her species to come at such a turbulent time, fearing a rocky transition. We thought it would be better if she came to us but it never happened.

"Soon after, your father and I were called away to help rebuild a nearby village after a flood destroyed several homes. We departed in the hopes that upon our return, we'd find Kikyo in a more receivable mood.

"I think you know the rest of the story. Kikyo planned to make the wish all along and waited for the opportune time to carry it out. Naraku deceived her and Inuyasha the day she was to carry out her plans."

Her mother's hand shook as she pulled the cup of coffee up to her lips and sipped, her eyes misty with the recollection as Kagome nodded that she understood, signaling there was no need to continue. But it quickly became apparent that her mother _needed_ to continue and once more, she needed her to listen. So she trained all her attention on her words, feeling the pain of loss and seeing the picture her story had to portray.

"He tainted their hearts with betrayal, fury, and hate so that the jewel would be tainted, too. Manipulated Kikyo's fragile disposition in regarding demons, in trusting them. He twisted that fear to make her believe Inuyasha only wanted her to let her guard down so he could take the jewel.

"Likewise with Inuyasha, he worked off the hanyou's deep-rooted shame in being what he was. A coupling of both worlds but shunned by both, Inuyasha had always despised his diluted blood and believed himself unworthy of the love of others until Kikyo. Naraku played off this insecurity, making Inuyasha believe Kikyo was so disgusted with his true form she intended to kill him; that the deal they made with the jewel was but a cruel joke and how could he ever think that someone like her would wish to be with someone like him?

"But he didn't stop there, no, he killed Kikyo and with her dying breath, she sealed the real Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree.

"We came home the day of her funeral!" her mother cried, her voice breaking into a quiet whisper. "Just in time to watch as they lit the pyre. Your older sister, Kaede, was no more than 8 at the time. We found her standing alone at the front of the pyre, watching the flames take Kikyo into the next world with a hallow expression that scares me to this day to recall."

Her head shook back and forth as if to deny the words she spoke even as they flowed forth, tears streaming down her cheeks at the recollection. It pained Kagome to watch the raw emotions pass over her mother's beautiful face, hurt to hear the words and truth about her family's tragic past, but she couldn't ask her to stop and she couldn't interrupt when her mother spoke with this much passion about anything.

"She was burned with the Jewel in her hands and when her ashes were gathered, there was no sign of its existence," she continued with a sniffle. Her nasal passage was clogged, muffling the sound of her voice even as she began to reign in control of her emotions, calming her upset.

"We all mourned her death greatly but took solace in the fact that her sacrifice had finally undone the mistake of the Jewel. Out of grief, we moved back out to the mountains of fire, to my father's homelands, the man you know of as Totosai."

Kagome immediately got a mental image of a volcanic-area constantly flowing with molten lava and surmised it wasn't exactly paradise.

"Your father and I fought Naraku along with Midoriko, Totosai, and your Gramps and Gran Ma after Kikyo was killed. Even in a weakened state he was hard to track down, but we were never successful. Either we'd find out what we were fighting was a puppet or the real Naraku would get away before we could deal the final blow."

Kagome sighed exasperatedly. "I know the feeling," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

"When I got pregnant with you 30 years after Kikyo's death, I knew you'd be born with the Jewel in your body. I could sense it from inside me almost the moment you were conceived."

"Ewwww! Motherrrr!" Kagome shrieked, covering her ears.

Her mother laughed lightly in response before continuing.

"Despite how thrilled we all were that you were coming, the continued existence of the Jewel was a devastating blow. We knew we could not protect you from Naraku without removing you from that era entirely."

Kagome took a deep breath, mulling over everything her mother had said. "Did you have any idea, then, that I would end up shattering the jewel and ultimately, causing more bloodshed?"

Her mother's gaze did not falter. "No."

Kagome sighed. "So, why? You knew I was in no way prepared to defend the Shikon, why would you willingly allow the jewel to fall into the hands of demons-"

"Demons! Exactly!" her mother interjected. "That's the whole point, isn't it, demons? You had to interact with them as a human, _accept_ them as a human, before you could evolve into your true form. You had to go back to the past because all the demons here are hidden by seals and enchantments."

Mrs. Higurashi sighed to contain her excitement before continuing with a soft, nostalgic smirk as Kagome scanned her mother with a critical eye, fearing madness had overtaken her mind for a moment.

"Your father believed you needed the rugged terrain of the Feudal Era," she continued non pulsed, waving her hand in the direction of the well house, "-with it's natural landscape, to cope with your transformation. That, coupled with the support of your friends and family," she added warmly, cupping her cheek tenderly for a moment before casually dropping it away.

She chuckled warmly. "Of course, we had no way of knowing you would or even _could_ thwart the spell holding Inuyasha. That was a card we didn't foresee," she teased with a smile, taking another sip of her coffee.

Kagome smiled grimly and nodded she understood. "Ok, here's what I don't get. You let a 14 year old, oblivious girl fall into 500 years in the past, knew it was going to happen-_waited_ for it to happen-"

At this, her mother held up a hand in 'pause' mode. "Your grandfather and I were not _waiting_ for you to fall through the well. I don't deny having a previous notion that it was a high possibility on its own, but we had no way of knowing _when_ you would go; I most certainly didn't expect it to be so young as 14, I assure you! I was worried sick when you first went through. Your grandfather and I both worried for days after you left, wondering if it was too soon, wondering what dangers you were facing."

Kagome felt herself nodding quickly that she understood, not wanting to invoke a sentimental, mother/daughter moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like I thought you didn't worry about my safety, it's just that I'm having trouble understanding why you would allow me to face the demons of the Feudal Era knowing I have this jewel inside me, knowing that Naraku is after it and believing that I would be alone, save for Kaede, in this task of killing him? If you, Midoriko and Totosai, my father, Inuyasha and Kikyo were not able to succeed in killing him, what in Kami's name makes you think I will be?"

When the silence continued, her mother stood up, abruptly shaking her from her thoughts.

"Come with me," she bid her suspiciously, still wiping at her eyes but smiling slightly. She turned on her heel and marched with purpose out of the kitchen and through the house in the direction of the shrine grounds.

Kagome followed, excited and curious about whatever she was being led to.

Her mother went straight out through the living room and into the Shrine itself, not stopping to close the doors behind her as she continued out the front door and onto the front porch.

Kagome closed the door behind her and followed her mother to the left, the opposite direction of the well house. She followed her up the steps leading to the old store house and inside, closing the door quietly behind them.

Kagome watched as she leaned back against the frame, sighing with relief as her eyes scanned the rows and rows of dusty boxes full of all manner of things from antiques to ancient relics the Shrine had collected through out the years.

She smiled lightly, brushing past Kagome and down the right of the first aisle. Upon reaching the far right wall, she turned forward and began making her way to the back. Her fingers slid along the old wood to guide her in the dark until she came to a sudden stop, causing Kagome to collide with her back.

"Mmmph! Sorry," she apologized. She could hear the smile in her mother's words. "Careful, dear. Ok, now wait for my signal."

Kagome felt a twinge of panic. "Mom, what are we-"

"Qui-et," her mother answered in a sing song voice. "I have to find this thing and I haven't done this in years so you'll have to bare with me," she responded, grunting as she squatted in the darkness, her hands feeling along the edges of the floor boards for something.

"Oh dear, I probably should have brought a flashlight. No matter," she mumbled to herself softly. After a few moments of awkward silence, Kagome was beginning to doubt her mother's sanity when a sudden cry shook her out of her pondering.

"Ah-ha!" her mother cried with victory, pulling back what looked like a hidden trap door in the floor and lifting it to reveal an old, stone passageway covered in cobwebs and dust.

A stagnant, foul blast of cool air hit their faces as it was lifted, causing both women to immediately cry out and fall backwards, the trap door shutting with a snap.

Kagome coughed, waving a hand in front of her face to clear the cloud of dust she was currently laying in and suppressing the gag that wanted the block all her airways.

"Mom, you ok?" she called.

A light laugh was her response. "Kami, that odor was powerful!" She complained with another giggle. "It literally knocked us both off our feet!" she exclaimed again, bursting out into another fit of laughter.

Kagome found the sound the same as it had always been her whole life and just like in times past when her mother found something funny, she couldn't resist in sharing the mirth. They both chuckled as they helped each other off their feet and dusted each other off.

"Well now, let's try that again, shall we?" Bending forward at the waist, she lifted the door again, this time setting it gently back against the floor and leaving the dark, stone passageway open for entrance.

Kagome thought the odor resembled that of murky pond water, like the lake that Catfish demon had lived in. The walls were wet and a faint dripping sound could be heard but she could make out nothing else as the passage was too dark to see more than a few feet inside.

Fumbling with something off to the side, her mother re-emerged, appearing with what looked like an old torch. She touched the tip with her finger and Kagome watched in awe as a single spark ignited the end, the rest catching easily with the aid of some flammable liquid.

_'Did she just light that torch with her finger?'_

It blazed in the dark, dry storage room, clearing away the floating dust instantly and alighting their path with orange and gold flames.

Kagome felt herself swallow hard. _'Yup.'_

"Shall we?" her mother coaxed cheerfully, plunging into the darkness.

Kagome hesitated only an instant before following her mother into the suspicious cavern, her mind wrought with suspense, anxious anticipation and curiosity that set her nerves on fire.

* * *

**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	14. Understanding Compassion

_Disclaimer: I don't not own Inuyasha_

* * *

Sesshomaru watched the first rays of dawn touch the sky from his place beneath a large Oak, his attention immediately shifting to the bone eater's well. Though his eyes remained glued to the rays of light stretching across the horizon, all his other senses strained for some sign of _her_.

There was no trace of the miko's scent on the air nor was there any indication that the well's magic had been activated or would be any time soon.

Resisting the urge to sigh, he chose to rise silently instead, trying his best to dismiss his brain's sudden intrigue in the silly onna.

A glance above him revealed his brother still deeply asleep from his place in the tree tops.

Sesshomaru smirked. His alliance with his sibling's tachi had turned out to benefit Inuyasha more than anyone else in the group, from what he could gather. Before he had agreed to join them, his face had always shown the lines of exhaustion from night after night on watch with no sleep.

The first night Sesshomaru joined them, Inuyasha slept the entire night through and well into the next day, not rising even after all the rest of the group had slowly awoken one by one.

The Lord of the West had to resist the urge to raise an eyebrow as the first member to arise was the monk, who immediately excused himself to the safety of the trees once meeting the taiyoukai's fixed gaze.

Sesshomaru watched with seeming indifference as the kitsune rose next, followed immediately by his own ward, Rin. The little girl yawned and stretched before noticing his presence, her doe-like eyes widening in excitement.

He cringed, flinching when the inevitable occurred.

"GOOD MORNING, LORD SESSHOMARU-SAMA!" she cried happily, effectively awakening all those who remained asleep, all but his brother, who from a glance appeared to be in the exact same position he had been in when he fell asleep the night before.

He gently pried the tiny fingers locked around his legs free, patting his ward's head lightly and addressing her with a warm, "Rin."

She beamed at his actions before sprinting off into the woods to relieve herself, no doubt. As she disappeared from view, his attention once again fell to his brother. Of course, Sesshomaru allowed his sleep to continue undisturbed but not without cursing himself inwardly for showing any mercy at all. Although he knew the hanyou needed the rest, that would not stop him from delivering a sharp reprimand when he finally _did_ decide to greet the land of the living, which did not appear to be any time soon.

* * *

Inuyasha jumped awake, the sight of leaves and sky the first sight to greet him. The day was beautiful but he had no time to enjoy it. The position of the Sun in the sky sent the alarm bells ringing.

He knew immediately he'd overslept and panicked slightly, thinking the only thing that could keep his brother from missing the chance to kick him awake would mean nothing short of a strong demonic attack. But a glance to the fire showed everyone safe and sound. A glance immediately down revealed Sesshomaru sitting patiently at the base of his chosen tree, his eyes closed softly and his arms folded across his chest.

He took a careful pause, considering what to do. There was no doubt his brother intended to punish him for oversleeping but the question was, why hadn't he done it already? It was not like him not to take advantage of his vulnerable sleeping position, most especially when he'd done something to deserve retribution.

Though a hanyou, he was well aware of the instinctual rules regarding an Inuyoukai's pack. He knew when Sesshomaru agreed to Sango's proposition that he would have no choice but to step down as Alpha, handing Sesshomaru the reins. If he hadn't made this transition as smooth as possible, they would have had to fight for the title and Inuyasha had fought his brother enough to know when he'd met his match.

As Beta of the pack and second in command, it was his responsibility to ensure the protection of its members just as much as it was Sesshomaru's. A simple mistake like oversleeping, he knew, could be the difference between life and death. Alpha and Beta were the first to rise each morning to better cover all time periods of vulnerability.

He couldn't believe he'd overslept. He _never_ overslept; he hardly slept at all! For him to have this problem now was not boding well for his brother's impression of him. If he expected Sesshomaru to allow him to keep the title of Beta, he would have to prove that he was up to par. If a Beta was too weak to protect his fellow pack members, it was the Alpha's job to make the call to replace him.

He sorely hoped his brother had not decided to make that call.

Sesshomaru sensed it the moment his brother woke and knew he was staring down at him incredulously. Knowing he would hear him perfectly well from their proximity, he stood briskly, startling Inuyasha from his staring. "I hope you have satisfied your exhaustion, Inuyasha. I trust that you will not make the mistake of over taxing your weak body and leaving this tachi vulnerable again."

Inuyasha had almost been too shocked to speak, barely managing to respond coherently at all. "Uh, right," he sputtered, jumping down from the tree and making his way into camp, where everyone else was packed and ready to go.

After that, Sesshomaru took up watch every night but twice a week, giving Inuyasha five out of six days to sleep the night through.

On this morning, a nearby hot spring provided the Lord with his morning bath. He took his time in the warm water and silent serenity that accompanied the dawn.

As a dog demon, his senses were heightened to the point of bringing pain. A mere mortal would find it excruciating, he imagined. Even for a demon of his caliber, blocking out the constant noise was always some what irritating and despite a lifetime of experience learning to filter it out, he still found himself insistent on a silent atmosphere.

The spring was quiet, the forest still. The water's gentle lapping sounds were soothing, accompanied by a soft Spring breeze. Steam billowed, rising into the air in a wall of silent, ethereal clouds that covered the bubbling surface and his person, evaporating as the hot water met the cool, dawn air. It glided across his skin, opening his pores and filling his olfactory senses to the brim with the pleasing, clean scent of the clear, sparkling liquid that flowed around him.

He waded through the water, nearing the middle, his hair fanning out behind him as he submerged himself to the shoulders, thinking.

His entire tachi knew, including the human child Rin, how important it was to respect the silence around him. They kept the noise down to a minimum unless it was absolutely imperative, so great was their dedication and loyalty to him. Only his ward tested those unspoken rules, always knowing just how far she could go.

What was it about humans that gave them such fool-hardy courage, he wondered? What intuition did his ward have over him that allowed her to know just where the line was with him?

He would kill any other living being that so much as scowled in his direction instantly. The child knew he was a killer, something not even of her own species. Something that could be monstrous and grotesque; still she stayed with him. He never thought it possible for a human to acknowledge the beast within a demon form and still retain some semblance of compassion. His ward did this with no extended effort, her high opinion never wavering, her trust never unsettled.

She looked at him with no fear in her eyes, she trusted him. Trusted him to protect her, to stay with her, to take care of her. Loved him with an unconditional love, believed in him with endless faith. She stared Death in the face on a multitude of occasions because she wanted to help him or someone else she cared about and she did it without ever considering the cost of her life against the goal. The goal was always worth more.

She followed him everywhere, even if it meant her own life would be in danger. Risked it willingly, foolishly, to bring him something he'd left behind, as if that meant more to him than her very life.

He would never forget what she had put herself through to bring him Tenseiga when he'd cast it aside. She did it to please him, because knowing she had his approval would make her happier than anything else in the world.

Or when she thought Jaken would die without a certain antidote, so she happily traveled alone to a valley infested with demons to retrieve it for him.

She went that far, just to save an imp that had always treated her like refuse. He had arrived just in time to save her from falling off a cliff to her death.

She feared humans, her own kind, while she seemed to care for him. A human unafraid and entirely accepting, not just tolerant, of the demonic race. A trait rarely found in humans at all.

While he believed her ability to put such faith and compassion into the people around her was indeed, foolish, he could not deny that her conviction to honor that feeling was impressive.

Her dedication, her loyalty, her absolute trust, her unwarranted and constant kindness and above all, her perpetually happy demeanor was endearing to him in a way he could not ignore.

With this thought, he could not help but to acknowledge another human he knew, perhaps the only other he'd become acquainted with in his long existence, that did not fear demons or wish to eradicate them on sight.

A human that did not just tolerate and trust, but accepted, even genuinely cared for, the ones she knew.

Kagome, the miko from the future, the girl that had unknowingly deceived them all.

Without her help, he realized suddenly that the light in his life known as Rin would no longer be at his side and he was instantly assaulted by a crippling sense of gratitude and respect that lingered in his heart before he could stop it for the futuristic miko.

All the knowledge and memories he possessed of her seemed to converge in his brain at once, forcing him to evaluate each individual fact under a new light.

She was a miko, a human born to eradicate demons. She wielded a power more dangerous to his kind than any other weapon, possessed a concentration of said power that was staggering, going far beyond the normal levels usually seen. Yet, he had only ever witnessed her use of this power if her life or someone she cared about were in mortal peril and never did she release it before trying to reason with whatever she was up against. It amused him to no end that she insisted on this process of trying to talk her enemies out of making her have to kill them. Because she made it absolutely apparent that she did not _want_ to.

She had thrown herself before his person to protect Inuyasha on several occasions. She did so without the knowledge that killing a defenseless, human female was beneath his station and yet, in every encounter he'd had with his younger brother that she'd feared he would loose, at some point she managed to throw herself in the line of danger before him. To protect him, with the possible consequence of her life, from harm. She did not hesitate in these actions, show any remorse or doubt, either.

And yet, they were not mated. And yet, his brother showed her no interest save the love he had for that of a sister.

Sesshomaru was confused. Here was this beautiful, loyal, courageous, educated, passionate female, possessing mysterious powers that even he, with his several hundred years' worth of experience on this plane of existence was still unsure as to the actual caliber she contained, fawning over his hanyou brother for all that time and he hadn't _mated_ her?

He frowned slightly as he worked nimble fingers through silver hair, using razor-sharp claws to scrape against his scalp as the water eased away any debris.

The allure, the intrigue, the, dare he say it? _Attraction_ could not be denied. His curiosity burned to know more about this rare species of demon and an even rarer class of female.

As he slowly emerged from the water, allowing his boa to sweep over his form to soak up any remaining moisture, his thoughts echoed the question that had been on his mind ever since her release:

Who was she? He had heard every word of the letter Kagome read to the old priestess aloud, had listened to her 'sister's' response closely. He scented the change from inside the hut the moment Kaede had released her true aura.

So he knew she was born in this era and that her family had moved to the future of their own volition.

A Godai Inuyoukai. There were several different kinds and they were all incredibly rare. An elemental Godai Inuyoukai was even rarer, still. The Silver Inu did not have to worry about seals so he was fortunately not cursed to appear mortal until he came of age. In that respect, he did pity her. Not because she was less beautiful, no, but because her frailty and awkwardness made her in instant target where ever she went.

He mentally shrugged the thought away. What did he care how hard her life had been? It was the pinnacle focus of his training not to focus on such useless, trivial matters.

Just when he finished dressing, the wind picked up, bringing with it the scent of the old miko from the village headed in their direction. Only, this scent lacked any signs of decay that comes with aging mortals and instead, came to him infused with a youthful vitality and accompanied by a powerful demonic aura.

Feeling no sense of alarm knowing her affiliation to the pack, he continued back to camp just as the others were beginning to break their fast.

"A demon approaches," he informed the tachi simply, ignoring their sudden rush to prepare themselves for combat as he chose instead to follow the scent trail left on the wind.

He could guess at her reasons for coming in this form and he had no intention of disappointing her apparent desire to provide them with some answers.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	15. Ancestral Premonitions

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome followed after her mother at a brisk pace down the dark passageway, her eyes scanning the wet bricks glittering with moisture against the flickering flames of the torch ahead of her. The stones were so old the edges had long ago eroded away, rounding each of them off.

Her feet slid to the front of her flats with each step and her calves flexed to keep her balance as they began a rather steep decline. Above her head, she could just make out the lines of root systems growing through the ceiling as they passed further and further underground.

"This passageway was created by your grandparents shortly after we were sent to live in this era. It contains our most prized family possessions and a link to our family in the past separate from the Well."

Kagome gave herself the time she needed to process the information before commenting. "So, this place already exists in the past?"

"Yes. It may look a little different from now but I know it is there. The entryway is hidden. Only Kaede knows the magic to find it, magic that you possess. However, we have more important things to focus our time on today."

As soon as she had finished speaking, Mrs. Higurashi came to a stop and Kagome peered around her mother to see another entrance encased in darkness. It was as if the torch's light could not penetrate the shadow and her own eyes strained to make out any form in the blackness unsuccessfully.

The strain of trying to see into the room must have over done it, as Kagome blinked against her sudden blindness. Her eyes spun around the room in a panic, searching frantically for the torch's light, relief flooding through her when she found the blinding dot, moving further away as her mother ventured into the room without fear.

She followed the fire's every movement as it suddenly dipped to the floor in an awkward angle while at the same moment, engulfing flames flew across the room and up the stone walls in one blinding instant. Kagome threw herself to the floor in reaction, hoping to avoid the sudden onslaught and protecting her head and face with her arms.

A light, bell-like laugh drew her from that position to see her mother with an exquisitely beautiful smile on her face. A glance around the now well lit room revealed a large cavern filled with all sorts of unimaginable treasures.

Statues of beautiful men and women wearing ancient clothing lined the walls from front to back and side to side, each holding a large basin of oil that burned brightly in their outstretched hands like an odd orb of light. Each statue seemed to be connected to the other by an irrigated system of sorts that held oil and went all the way around the room, joined together by the one in the back middle, the one her mother had just lit.

Kagome rose and began dusting herself off as she looked around. Her eyes immediately snagged on a large portrait of a woman on the far side of the room. Everything else was forgotten as she moved herself across the space until she stood before the ancient work of art, admiring the attention to detail and drawn to the rich tones.

It was a beautiful Feudal woman against the richest blue night sky she'd ever seen. Her fingers glided softly, carefully over the slick material, instantly confirming her suspicions with the undeniable texture of authenticated, aged silk.

What caught her eye, however, was that the woman was not dressed in the traditional kimono or even the common attire of the villagers; she was adorned in what looked like a gown of shimmering storm clouds and a silver white bow was slung across her back. A glance at her shoulder revealed arrows with the strange, blue feathers like the ones she'd been given. A silver crown made a 'v' on her forehead, set with a single marquise shaped gem the color of a Sapphire. The edges of her crown disappeared into thick, black tresses that hung in waves around her hips, parts of it picked up by the wind to fly at her shoulders. Behind her, the sea rolled with white-cresting waves against a black, inky sky, littered with stars and a large, crescent moon off at the upper right corner. The woman's ears came to a delicate point and her eyes blazed an unworldly blue, brought out by the dark blue markings across her eye lids. The light of her irises burned like blue flames. Her face was set in a serious expression, her cheeks marked with two sharp, twin stripes that matched the markings across her eyes as she seemed to regard an enemy on the other side of the painting and it sent chills down Kagome's spine to look at it.

"Who is this?" she breathed as her mother came to stand beside her.

"Your grandmother," she replied simply.

"Midoriko? After the change?"

"Yes."

A long silence prevailed, during which Kagome absorbed every detail about the woman in front of her. Claws on each hand, dark blue markings on each arm like Sesshomaru's. A calm, emotionless expression that spoke of potential kindness and potential ruthlessness at the same time.

"Her weapons-" she began.

"Are your's now. She gave those up after she dispelled her holy power. This portrait depicts her right after the jewel was created. She had not yet procured more suitable weapons to her demonic inheritance. You may never have to loose your holy power and the weapons are meant to channel both sides, the light and the dark."

"Will I get to meet her now that I know she's alive? I mean, now that I know the big secret and all?"

She was answered with a warm smile. "I think so. Come over this way, there's something I want to show you."

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At first, Kaede intended to hold her ground when she sensed Sesshomaru coming in her direction. But when his aura settled instead on a general area which she assumed to be the camp, she made for his direction instead.

She broke into a run, loving the cool wind on her face as her bare feet sprinted across the soft, summer grass. When she finally broke into the clearing that held everyone in their battle stances, she couldn't wipe the grin from her face. Despite her carefree, cheerful expression, the group remained on guard, their suspicions still on high alert. Everyone but Sesshomaru, who stood off to the side indifferently, watching the events unfold with masked intrigue.

Inuyasha had drawn Tetsusaiga, Sango held Hiraikotsu at the ready on her shoulders and Miroku clutched his staff tightly, as if weary of an attacker knocking it from his grasp.

Ah-Un grazed in a nearby field casually while the children, Shippo and Rin, ran happily through the tall grass, oblivious to the tension of the situation. Their shrieks of joy and giggles provided the only sound as the stare down between the tachi and the new demon continued.

"What ails thee, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango? Do ye not recognize your old friend?" Kaede spoke in her old, familiar way, grinning widely and showing off a set of sharpened canines.

"Perhaps this will jog your memory," she suggested lightly and proceeded to place a single palm over her left eye. "Does this ring a bell?"

"K-Kaede-ba-chan?" Miroku breathed, followed by a collective gasp from the others as they made the connection themselves.

Kaede bowed dramatically, even pulling at the sides of her kimono in an attempt at a curtsy. Her lilac hair twinkled in the summer sun as it spilled over her shoulders in the awkward position before settling itself as she rose.

"In the flesh," she grinned widely.

"Your...you're...a demon?" Inuyasha questioned, eyes wide with surprise.

Kaede nodded. "And I think it's about time we had a looong chat about all this before Kagome gets back. Miroku, be a dear and put on the tea. I've got a long story to tell."

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	16. Memories regained

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kohaku sat with his back against the castle's rotting wooden walls, staring off into the room blankly. Images flashed through his mind's eye, images of a strong, beautiful woman fighting demons. As he looked closer, he could see tears making tracks down her cheeks and an odd tugging sensation formed in his chest.

Sound accompanied the vision and suddenly he could hear the sounds of battle, metal slamming against metal, people screaming, blood flowing.

"KOHAKUUU!" the woman's voice echoed across the battlefield with urgency, a desperate shriek that sent panic coursing through his veins for reasons he couldn't understand. The sound of her calling his name sent a white-hot blade of shame, regret, pain and longing through his heart. What were these feelings? Who was this girl and why did she seem so heart broken when she looked at him?

She was headed for him again, would she never give up? She was riding a huge cat held aloft by flames and swinging a familiar weapon out in front of her. He watched idly as it swept through Naraku's minions easily, leaving their splintered remains to litter the forest floor.

"Kohaku?" she called softly, once all the minions had been killed. He could hear her comrades calling for her in the distance. They would be upon them in mere moments. His master would not be pleased if he was delayed. Yet he could not pull himself away.

"Don't your remember me, Kohaku?" she asked him, those familiar tears streaming down her cheeks.

He had wanted to remember her when she said that, the way she said it with such desperate pain lacing her every word. He felt compelled to make her feel better, though he didn't understand why he felt that way, because he didn't recognize her at all.

But this time when he heard those words again in his mind's eye, something happened.

It began as pain surging through his head for an instant before fading into a growing recognition. Something in his brain said it was familiar, everything was familiar. Just as he tried to pin how, he had another vision.

The girl again, younger this time, holding his hand in a field of flowers. The girl, younger still, running upstream trying to catch fish. The woman now, showing him how to hold his weapon upright. There she was, smiling at him, laughing, loving him. Patiently guiding him, supporting him like a...like a...

"Ane-we..." he whispered hoarsely against his chest, a lump having formed in his throat. What was worse is that he knew this was not the first time he'd forgotten her. Now that his memories were returning, so, too did that moment on Kagura's feather solidify in his mind. That had been the first time he'd remembered. This time he'd traveled with Kikyo and then later Sesshomaru after Kikyo died. Then the jewel had called him back and he had been captured again...

His memories swam. He saw her again, his sister, this time with his scythe embedded in her back. He saw his father and comrades slain in the grass by his own hand.

But she had survived, he hadn't killed her! She was looking for him, chasing him, never giving up. He recalled that determined expression she wore as she continuously fought to get to him every time their paths crossed ever since...since...

Naraku. His mind supplied the word like a poison and once said, the fury of it all seemed to ebb into his veins and heart. Naraku had moved him like a puppet, forced him to slay his family and all the other demons slayers for a few shards. The fiend had reanimated his body after he was killed and used him like a lifeless puppet just to cause his sister enough emotional distraction to get her killed. He had gotten away, remembered everything, traveled with Kikyo but then he'd been captured again and Naraku had sent his mind once more into oblivion.

His mind must have been developing a resistance, he imagined, since it didn't seem to have taken him as long this time to remember. There was no way to be sure, however, as already the time he'd spent without his memory seemed to be fogging over when he tried to recall where he was and why. It was if he could only have one set of memories at a time, his time spent with Naraku or his time spent with his family. Thankfully it was not as if that decision was an overly difficult one to make.

As soon as his thoughts turned down that path, Kohaku knew he'd made a dire mistake. Alarm came in the form of a tingling sensation in the shard in his back. Immediately, he somehow knew that Naraku was aware he regained his memories and he knew he was in mortal peril.

Wasting no more time, he sprung from his place on the floor and bolted out the front door. He sprinted through the forest, running like he'd never run in his whole life, directed by the shard's sharp tugs and pulls as he went along. It was as if it was speaking to him, telling him where to go.

Storm clouds grew on the horizon as it started to sprinkle. The air was thickly humid and he began to sweat with the effort of running. Branches swatted and stung at his face, roots threatened to trip him as he banged his feet against them and rocks on the ground which was fast on its way to becoming a slippery mess of danger with the coming rain.

He was weak from weeks of near starvation, thirsty and dehydrated. The blood rushed through his veins, propelled by his thundering heart and he grew dizzy from the fear and exertion, his head spinning.

Still, he pressed onward, never letting up or slowing down. Only his skill as a demon slayer kept him aloft at this point, the discipline he'd honed through years of training guiding him to stay light on his feet, to move with a fluid grace, to calculate each step, jump and flip that brought him that much closer to safety and survival.

As the rain began to fall in sheets around his head, the shard seemed to pick up in intensity as if to say, _'He's getting closer!'_

His heart cried out in a panic. He had to see his sister again, he had to live again now that he was back. He could _not_ die! Not now!

Tears began to slide from the corners of his eyes, disappearing into an almond hairline with the rain. After all he'd been through, after all he'd managed to overcome, he could not let his sister down in this. Imagining her grief stricken face brought a pang to his chest and it was as if he'd been pierced with a real blade.

His heart fell as he heard a familiar laugh coming up from behind him, hot on his tail.

The shard sent him another warning and he sliced the tentacle heading for his neck before it could make contact. His tears tried, fury built to take their place and with an iron clad determination.

_'Just let me make it in time,'_ he thought as he continued to run. _'Ane-we, I'm coming!'_

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**_  
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	17. A Path Revealed

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome followed her mother through the large cavern, stepping over things like a large and ancient trunk spilling over with silk fabric, around a pile of oddly shaped, broken furniture, around several interconnected, floor length mirrors.

Weapons from all times and places lined the walls. She recognized swords from the England Crusades, armor from all over the world, bows, arrows, axes, scythes, sai, maces, daggers, endless paintings, shelves of ancient books, ancient scrolls so old they were encased in glass boxes set atop stone podiums around the room.

There were also shelves filled with glass containers of all colors, shapes and sizes. Some were filled with a dark liquid, some with clear, some with a milky-white substance. Some contained what looked like raw plant material and others contained what appeared to be appendages, causing Kagome to turn away in disgust.

They passed by a large, boulder sized Sapphire that seemed to pulse with some foreign type of magic, causing Kagome to make a wide radius around the object.

Finally, they arrived at another door that once opened, led them down another corridor and into another cavern, this one closer to the size of Kagome's bedroom than the football field sized room they just left.

Unlike the initial darkness of the previous room, however, this room was already lit with a light, blue light. A glance around the walls revealed a single white, marble basin at the center of the room that hovered suspended by chains over what appeared to be another well. The basin was lit with the strangest blue flame and she was instantly reminded of the time they avenged Shippo's father and she was encased with his fox fire.

The entire room was white, giving it the space an otherworldly tint as the blue flames continued to lick toward the ceiling, casting strange light across the white marble floors.

Kagome felt herself drawn forward. As she moved toward the center of the room, she noted the walls were lined with shelves filled with delicate, clear glass bottles with long, elegant necks that tapered gracefully into a round bottom, like a large, intricately made perfume bottle. Inside the bottles was what appeared to be a blue, smoky light that moved as if alive within its glass confines slowly, expanding and contracting like smoke would. A strange symbol on the face of each bottle glittered slightly in the light but her attention was fixed forward.

The well was made of white marble like most of the room, carved with a skilled had and filled nearly to the brim with a sparkling liquid. She knew without having to ask it wasn't simply water as the entire well seemed to resonate with a strong magic.

As she approached and peered into its depths, Kagome found she could not see the bottom. The liquid seemed to swirl, only reflecting the blue light of the fire against its surface.

The sound of soft footsteps brought her out of her musing to see her mother standing next to her holding one of the bottles in her hand.

"Kagome, I've told you about who you are. You know what you will soon become. You have faced many adversaries during your time in the Feudal Era and you have learned many things about yourself. There were things you were capable of I couldn't teach you. Things you had to learn on your own. You've done so well and I'm so proud of you," she beamed as her daughter smiled.

"Among the many gifts passed down our line, there is one ability only our family have in common. That ability is the gift of Sight. You have always been able to read people, haven't you? Always been able to tell their intent, been able to sense emotions and feelings others would be oblivious to. But it's _so_ much more than that. We can control our powers to appear where we want them to, we have visions of things that have not yet come to pass."

Kagome was immediately reminded of the time she fought Hitomiko, when she saw Naraku standing behind her and willed her arrow to disappear at the woman's chest and reappear in Naraku's face. Then, there was the sudden vision she had about Rin and the ghost of the girl-child.

"Yes, I've experienced something like that," Kagome confessed softly, still awed by what she was being told.

"When you were born," her mother continued, "your grandmother had a vision of you, the day you were to change. These bottles," she motioned with a wave of her hand, "are visions our family has had and contained with magic throughout the years. While we may have found several other uses for them since then, it was your grandmother's desire for you to see this vision that this room was originally created.

"Do you know what this symbol means?" she asked lightly, gesturing to the strange design on the front of the bottle.

Kagome stared hard and shook her head. That symbol meant 'Kagome' and her mother had seen it shining from her chest when she was a baby. She had surmised it was the seal the jewel placed on her powers.

"Right," her mother answered, "It means Kagome. And Kagome is a special kind of seal. Making seals is another area we specialize in. If you notice, all the jars have that symbol."

Kagome glanced around the room, eying each of the jars critically to confirm her mother's words. Of course, she was right, as every bottle held the seal that bore her name.

"We seal our visions in these jars using that symbol infused with our magic. In the letter you father wrote to you, he spoke of a glass pocket of purity he left embedded in Naraku's heart, right?"

Kagome swallowed hard, nodding as her mother continued.

"That purity is sealed within glass with the same symbol. Only one of our blood and power can break it, do you understand?"

After she'd received another nod, her mother's hand grasped the lid of the bottle and with the slightest tinkling of glass, the dropper was revealed and held suspended over the waters of the well.

Kagome watched, fascinated, as a single drop of the glowing liquid dripped into the water, quickly expanding across the surface with swirling, blue light before the waters stilled like glass and a picture began to form.

She thought she must be seeing Midoriko, as she was seeing a woman from behind wearing the dark blue hakamas and white horai, with the same bow and arrows across her back.

Rain poured in sheets around her, lightening was flashing erratically throughout the sky. Then she turned and the breath was caught in Kagome's throat as she realized she was looking at herself. Those were the clothes Kaede had commissioned for her when she knew the traditional red and white miko garb reminded her of Kikyo.

There was a blinding flash of lightening, followed immediately with a brilliant crash of thunder and when the light faded, Kagome saw herself facing off with her dead sister, Kikyo.

They stood standing head to head, staring the other down. Kikyo seemed a vacant shell of her former self, filled only with darkness. She bared her teeth at Kagome in a spiteful sneer that spoke of an unmerciful viciousness.

The fight began in the blink of an eye, though Kagome didn't see who moved first, only sucking in a breath as she realized she'd blocked Kikyo's attempt to stab her with a dagger with her own Sai, the Sapphire crescent glinting in the moonlight.

Kagome then pushed Kikyo back, causing her to withdraw her weapon and in that moment she kicked the back of her knees, succeeding in bringing her face down. Not wasting a second, she then pulled free an arrow, infused it with her holy power, and brought the glowing, opal tip down to crash against her sister's skin.

She was suddenly trapped as the force of a holy barrier was erected around them both and she watched helplessly as they were lifted into the air inside a bright, white dome of light.

A second passed before the screams began, screams from the throat of both mikos. The dome lowered them back to the ground slowly before fading, revealing a glowing Kikyo not quite how Kagome had always remembered her.

As her sister opened her eyes and smiled, the vision suddenly changed.

This time, she was watching what appeared to be the final battle. Everyone was facing off with Naraku and several of them were injured. Inuyasha was bleeding from numerous gashes and wounds, Miroku had his arm wrapped in a make-shift sling torn from his own robes and Sango had been knocked unconscious to the ground. Only Sesshomaru appeared unscathed as he stood in front of the others and continued to bring Bakuseiga down on the approaching tentacles again and again.

She gasped at the sudden crash of lightening as it struck Naraku, bringing her eyes round to see her grandmother, beautiful and deadly, channeling that power.

She was just beginning to wonder where she was in all this when there was another crash of thunder and from three sides of the clearing, three women walked calmly onto the scene.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	18. Rescue

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kohaku continued to run, his desperate cries deafened by the storm as he forged through rivers and tore through foliage, heedless of the injuries he sustained as branches continued to swipe at his face and as he stumbled over rocks, scraping his knees, shins, hands and arms.

The sensation from the shard was less intense now but he sensed it was only so he could concentrate on getting away and not that he was in any less danger.

The buzz of Siamyosho in the nearby trees confirmed this feeling and the air thickened with the taint of miasma.

"Kohaku, tsk tsk tsk. Running away as soon as your memories return? Have you no thanks to give your guardian after all he's done for you? Here, I thought you were a good kid," Naraku's booming voice taunted him as he continued the chase.

Kohaku knew he was close but there was no telling how close. Were it not for the shard warning him against his every attack, Naraku would've taken his head off by now. He couldn't risk looking over his shoulder to see for himself in case he fell or it distracted him long enough to be killed.

His poor heart pounded in his ribcage, straining from the effort of taking in so much adrenaline.

The shard surged again with warning but this time, he was a moment too slow as he felt the tentacle pierce the skin of his neck. All at once, the boy stopped running as his arms fell to his sides.

Thunder clapped overhead as the storm seemed to reach its pinnacle.

"Ane-we, I'm so sorry," Kohaku whispered into the raging wind before loosing consciousness as Naraku took hold of his other limbs and pulled the boy's body closer to him, laughing victoriously at the sight of his tears.

"You loose, Ko-"

"Moooooooooooooooooo!"

Naraku paused at the sound of a cow flying overhead and masked his confusion as a flying, three eyed Ox appeared before him, carrying an old man holding a long hammer and scratching his head.

"I suppose you'll be Naraku, then," he commented idly with a shrug of his shoulders.

Naraku curled his lip in disdain. "What business is it of your's who I am?" he ground out seethingly.

"Oh, none of my business, no," he assured quickly, waving his hands for emphasis. "But that one over there is another matter," he added, glancing at what seemed to be the sky in general.

Naraku followed his line of sight to see storm clouds and huffed. "What games are you play-" he cut off as the silhouette of a woman began to descend from the clouds.

He tightened his grip on Kohaku as she slowly descended, first her boots, then her robes, until she floated before him, a strange mist following her from the heavens and encasing her body with a light, blue glow. Her hair was an inky black streaked with shocks of white. She wore a silver crown around her head that was covered by her hair save for her forehead and embedded with a marquise shaped Sapphire. Dark blue, demonic markings told of her pure blood status while her sleek, black robes suggested she came from a wealthy line.

As the thunder rolled, so did her icy, blue eyes seem to glow in intensity.

"Give me the child," she commanded him simply, her expression firm like a teacher scolding a student.

Naraku retained his usual scowl but inside he was taken aback by her calm demeanor. She truly held no fear of him whatsoever and she looked familiar, though he couldn't place where. He cast the thoughts aside, deeming them insignificant.

"You can have him back," he grinned impishly, "just as soon as I'm done with him."

Naraku instantly recoiled as the woman suddenly looked like she was about to backhand him.

"Oh, you've done it now," he heard from his side and looked to see the old man was no longer so old looking. His chestnut hair was pulled back in a long ponytail, complimenting his green robes. Naraku did a double take, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. The man was laughing and slapping his knee, acting as if he hadn't a care in the work.

He turned back to the woman, rage beginning to redden the edges of his eyes.

As his gaze locked with her's, he felt as her hand struck his face and the clap as her palm made contact with his cheek echoed simultaneously with a clap of thunder.

The next thing he knew, Naraku was being electrocuted by the woman, blinded as a bolt of lightening continued to channel through her fingertips, searing his flesh.

"Curse you," he spat as he dropped the boy and transformed into a purple tornado.

Totosai caught Kohaku before he hit the ground as Midoriko watched the tornado, still crackling with lightening and accompanied by several Siamyosho disappear into the sky.

As her power drew back into herself, the clouds dispersed, leaving behind a brilliant sunset that reminded Midoriko of hope.

* * *

Kagome gasped, coming out of her trance like state as the vision ended. She understood so much now about what was going to happen. No longer did she harbor fear of her transformation but clear understanding with only the slightest bit of trepidation.

She turned to her mother, who stood smiling lightly back in support. Kagome eyed the bag of supplies she'd brought and smiled.

"I know you're ready to go back now," she heard her thoughts echoed back to her.

"How do you know?"

"Oh, call it mother's intuition."

She nodded gravely. "The final battle is close at hand."

Kagome took the supplies offered and slung the strap over her shoulder. Her mother smiled at the sight she made, her dark blue shirt and skirt bringing out the color of her eyes. She stopped herself from tearing up and instead placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"Kagome, remember why you are Kagome. Your name holds a special power. You can seal anything. You can break any seal. You can see into the future. You can see through people, inside them and beyond. You can invoke the elements. You can purify any taint. Most of all, honey, you can love. I love you. I know you'll be fine. Look at me."

Kagome choked back a sob as she looked at her mother, knowing this could be the last time she did.

"I am only asking you to do what you were born to do. It is your destiny, it is your life. Go and claim it."

They embraced tightly, neither wanting to let go and both sniffling as they pulled away.

"I won't let you down, Mom. I will kill Naraku and destroy the jewel for good."

Her mother nodded. "I know you will. Take these sutras to Miroku, they're from your father. He had all these left over after he died and I remember you saying the monk used them. If his wind tunnel is failing, they may save his life."

"Thanks Mom, you always think of everything."

They embraced again as Kagome said her goodbyes to Souta and Gramps before heading to the well house. All her weapons were equipped as she jumped through the time portal to her friends on the other side.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :D**


	19. Introductions in order

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

* * *

Kaede spoke to the others well into the evening, long after the sun had slipped beneath the horizon and her voice was tender from overuse. Hours of questions and patient explanations were given as she carefully revealed every detail of her family's lineage, the purpose of keeping it a secret and the relatives Kagome had living in the Feudal Era, including herself.

After several hours of discussion, the conversation began to slow to a trickle until a comfortable silence prevailed, where the tachi who sat around the crackling fire were left to sort through their own thoughts and comfort their stinging throats with a calming herbal tea.

Inuyasha was devastated when his barely healed wounds regarding Kikyo were reopened as Kaede revealed the truth to her situation. Somehow, the fact he never even knew she had a family during their time together was even more painful than understanding a new variable to her feelings before they were betrayed. The surprise in discovering that Totosai was Kagome's grandfather, coupled with the fact he had a mate none other than the creator of the jewel herself, seemed to pale in comparison.

Shippo was very curious and excited about Kagome's new identity and although he'd never say it aloud, he was beyond relieved to know that he wouldn't one day have to watch what he considered his surrogate mother die centuries before his own body would begin to age.

Miroku and Sango were totally accepting of the information, despite the blow to their egos. While Miroku had his suspicions, he felt his spiritual powers should have been sharp enough to sense if not a barrier guarding her powers, some trace of a demonic aura in the time they'd spent together. Sango felt with her background, training and in depth knowledge that she should have heard about something like this before now, especially since she had always thought the jewel originated from her village. To find that all the offerings her ancestors had sent to Midoriko's cave had been for a woman that was still alive as Kaede was telling them was bit hard to swallow. Trying to chew the knowledge that the woman was now a fully fledged demon was even harder.

But Kaede sat before them as flesh in blood proof and when Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's initial suspicions were shared, Miroku and Sango had no choice but to believe the facts that couldn't be denied.

Both did their best to hide their heavy hearts, knowing that with this new information came new consequences and one of those consequences was that Kagome would outlive them both by thousands of years.

They shared a significant look with one another, as if realizing it at the same time. Both conveyed the same heartache in their troubled expressions. As Sango's brow furrowed, Miroku took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze of comfort. She laid her head on his shoulder as his arm snaked around her waist and they continued to stare off into the fire in silence.

Sesshomaru sat leaning against a tree trunk across the fire, his arms folded casually across his chest.. His expression was stony, belying the intense interest he had in the information floating around.

He had been correct in his suspicions of the girl from the very beginning, from the first time he saw her in their father's tomb. She should have died then, with or without the scabbard from Tetsusaiga. He knew only too well the barrier couldn't protect her from a melting rock slide, that was the whole point of backing her against the wall in the first place.

That was the first time he had suspected there was more to her than what met the eye.

The woman had continued to escape death time and again from the most powerful demons his world had to offer and she had refused to back down from a single one as a mere human, himself included. He could not help but to feel a swell of respect every time he watched her risk her life like a fool on the battlefield to save one of her friends but he never dreamed it could have the potential to grow into anything more than that.

When her spiritual powers began to develop, Sesshomaru thought he'd finally found an explanation for her uncanny ability to survive. Still, he felt unsatisfied, as if there was still something he was missing.

She dressed differently, acted differently and possessed such a decidedly passionate opinion on everything, contrary to the current society of mortals he had come to know in his long years on the earth. She was smarter, she was braver, she was powerful and most puzzling of all, she was kind. Indiscriminately, unconditionally kind.

He listened raptly to every word that came from her sister's lips, who spent most of her time focusing on the many questions she was assaulted with from every member of the tachi, excluding himself only. Currently, she continued to stress the importance of not treating Kagome any differently than before, citing that she was still very 'insecure' about her new position in life and how 'sensitive' she could be to the slightest changes in interaction once it's made apparent that everyone knows the truth.

Thunder suddenly rolled in the distance, breaking everyone's concentration to glance skyward, frowning. A haze obscured the stars themselves and a cold wind began to blow, threatening to put out the fire.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru shared a significant look. "Do you smell rain?" Inuyasha asked him quickly.

He was answered by a curt nod in the negative. "This is something else," Sesshomaru declared in a soft monotone, his amber eyes now watching the clouds sharply for any sign of life.

"Totosai," he provided them with a bored sigh just as the sound of an Ox mooing above confirmed his declaration.

The others watched as the flying Ox slowly descended from the clouds. As it came further into sight, it became apparent that he wasn't alone as there was another figure beside his mount.

Kilala mewled from her position on Sango's lap before standing up and staring expectantly at the sky. Her actions did not go unnoticed by Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha, who became even more interested in the new arrivals.

All interest in Totosai and the Ox was lost as a woman came into focus, a beautiful woman with long waves of black hair laced with streaks of white and wearing a silver crown embedded with a Sapphire crescent. Her blue robes swirled ethereally around her like mist and as the pair neared the ground, the fabric around her arms began to settle, revealing the form of a body held in her arms.

As Midoriko's feet touched the soil, Kilala leapt to the woman's shoulders, mewling her excitement. Sango followed the path of her guardian, her eyes landing on the small, child-like form in her arms. There was a sharp intake of breath as she raced over to the new comer, all trepidation forgotten to lay her hands on the warm skin of her baby brother. Tears welled in her eyes before she could stop them, seeing his unconscious form.

"Do not worry, child," Midoriko smiled assuredly. "He will awaken soon, all will be well," she predicted in a vaguely calm way as she gently transferred the boy's body to his sister's arms.

Sango noticed that Kilala stayed perched on Midoriko's shoulder even after the transfer but decided against commenting on it. "Thank you," she offered, bowing her head. "Words cannot express my gratitude that you returned him to me, Lady Midoriko."

"Think nothing of it," Midoriko waved dismissively. "I've been waiting for the moment I would feel this boy's desire to be freed of Naraku. I am tied to the jewel, as you know. I cannot control it but I can influence things, sometimes very strongly. We are connected through the shard that sustains his life. When he regained his memories of you the first time, I felt and saw everything but was discouraged to learn he had chosen shortly after that to simply forget when Naraku offered the choice."

Sango's eyes found the her's as she finished the sentence and her expression must have told of her racing thoughts because Midoriko flinched as if she'd been struck.

"No, my dear, you gravely misunderstand," she intoned softly, cupping a hand over heart. "I could not save him before this moment, it was not possible." Sapphire eyes moved to rest on the pale boy's sleeping face, her gaze softening with a kind of sad wisdom. "What use is it to save a life if the heart no longer carries the will to live? There _was _no Kohaku in that body before today, Sango. Hear me. I could not save him from Naraku until he found those memories...and _accepted _them."

There was a tense moment, pregnant with a heavy significance, as the meaning of her words rang through Sango's being and she dimly bowed her head with understanding.

Midoriko let out a small sigh as she continued. "Unfortunately, the moment Kohaku made this connection, so did Naraku. He had it set up that way all along, I'm afraid. If Kohaku were to regain his memories and simply wish for them to be gone again, Naraku would comply, but should Kohaku regain his memories and wish to _keep _them... Well, that's a death sentence. Very, very cruel but what can you expect from that vermin? My mate and I were fortunate enough to make it in time."

"You fought Naraku?" Sesshomaru questioned, inclining his head just slightly with interest.

"Dealt quite a blow, too," Totosai boasted, nodding. The strange timber of his voice caught the group off guard as everyone finally noticed the old sword smith looked to be about a thousand years younger. His clothes were a dark green with no burns or soot, his skin tanned and muscled. He resonated with a powerful demonic jaki but it was easy to miss against Kaede, Midoriko, Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, even Kilala and Shippo. He continued as if he hadn't noticed their surprise, one hand steadying the long hammer across his shoulder. "Ran off with his tail between his legs. He traveled to the North, though the direction he settled on after that is hard to guess."

Miroku gestured to his bedroll where Sango laid Kohaku out carefully, immediately setting to the task of cleaning his wounds.

"Obaa-san, ojii-san!" Kaede cried, pulling her cheerful grandparents into a hug. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha shared a quick glance with each other before looking pointedly away. Neither of them needed to say out loud that their interaction as brothers would never reach such a level of affection. And no one in the group was fool enough to point out that the scowls they both wore were nearly identical.

"You've grown a few inches since the last time I saw you," Totosai accused her suspiciously, "I swear you look _younger _every time I see you!" They giggled at the inside joke, ignoring the others entirely to bask in the joy of seeing each other again after being separated for so very long.

"Interesting choice of words," Sesshomaru's calculated voice interrupted the joyful scene. "I could say the same of you, Totosai," he challenged, calling attention to the changed appearance of the once elderly and feeble sword smith. On the head of the once balding, gray man was a lustrous mane of chestnut brown, gathered in a high pony tail that spilled down his back side. His once flimsy form had filled out with toned muscles, a broad chest and bronzed skin that was smooth, tight and spoke of a long endurance to heat. His tattered, burned kimono had been replaced with one exactly the same, only in perfect condition. He had all his teeth, including canines and he appeared for all the world as though he were roughly the same age as his father had been when he perished.

"Allow me to introduce my mate, Sesshomaru," Totosai side stepped the confrontation, further provoking the ire of the Western Lord. However, this was also a topic he desired answers on, so he decided to refrain from his original line of questioning for the time being.

"This is Midoriko, the originator of the Shikon and Grandmother to the mikos, Kagome, Kaede and Kikyo."

"An honor," Sesshomaru nodded respectfully, pointedly ignoring Inuyasha's balk of surprise out of his peripheral vision. Let the half-breed learn on his own the importance of manners.

"This, my dear," Totosai continued with a grin, internally enjoying the look of continued aggravation on Sesshomaru's face as he gestured to him with a dramatic wave of his hand, "Is the eldest son of the late Inu-no-Taisho and ruler of the Western Lands, Lord Sesshomaru."

"_'The Killing Perfection',_" Midoriko spoke the translation of his name idly. "It is nice to finally have a face to go with the name," she smiled wryly, returning his nod.

His senses poured over her, detecting every new change in her unique scent, this curious creature of an even more curious race. Her eyes shined with sincerity and he held no doubt regarding her demeanor that she was genuinely _happy _to see him, as she was happy to see Inuyasha and the others. Perhaps that was a common trait of Kagome's family, he mused, as his mind generously provided him a brief picture of the onna smiling brightly at his ward, Rin.

But it wasn't just this oddity that garnered his attention, it was that she _recognized _him, recognized _all _of them. A demon's senses were nothing if not acute and his sharp vision could pick up on ticks in the facial muscles, a slight softening of her eyes... Her interaction with the slayer and monk had given it away and again when Totosai said his name, her eye brows had lifted for a fraction of a second. _Where _had she seen them before?

Biting down the surge of near-frustration as all the new answers he obtained about this family simply asked more questions, Sesshomaru surprised everyone by returning her nod with a curt, half bow of respect, followed by a more than two word response. "Indeed. It will be interesting to learn how Totosai managed to keep you a secret all this time," he implied lightly, demanding an answer without loosing a shred of formality.

But Midoriko was not that easily maneuvered or intimidated. She had lived far longer than the Lord of the West and was, by far, the wiser. She took his comment in stride, smiling wryly with a mischievous glint to her eyes. "Aw, but where would be the fun in that? Life must be full of surprises or you will never learn the way you ought," she answered him vaguely and giggled softly at his bemused expression.

"And this is Inuyasha," Totosai continued, taking two steps to stand beside Inuyasha, who stood with his arms across his chest defiantly. Totosai clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble but carried on as if it hadn't happened, his eyes shining with amusement as Inuyasha scowled in warning. Totosai, who was now much taller than the hanyou, responded by smiling broadly before trapping Inuyasha's head in the crook of his elbow and rubbing his knuckles against it roughly, leaving his bangs a tangled mess.

Sesshomaru turned his back on the scuffle to stare in a different direction as Totosai demonstrated his dominance over Inuyasha, presumably because such things were beneath him. Though, if the truth were told, the Western Lord hid a half smirk as Inuyasha's shouts to be released began to echo across their small campsite, acquiring the attention of the rest of the group and intensifying his little brother's humiliation.

Inuyasha fought the entire transaction with gusto, all his attempts failing to even succeed in budging the elder demon's grip. He stumbled when released to the sounds of Totosai laughing loudly, a deep, booming thing that seemed to take up space where it sounded, as if it were a material object and worthy of that regard.

"Oh, Inuyasha, you have no idea how long I've waited to do that," he confessed heartily as he supported himself by putting his hands on his knees and wiping away tears of laughter.

Inuyasha's face reddened in anger and he made to swipe at the old man's head unsuccessfully, as he ducked at the last second with a swiftness the hanyou had not thought him capable of. The next thing he knew, Inuyasha found himself staring contemptuously at the now-young and exuberant sword smith across from him, who held his Tetsusaiga inches from his face by the blade to inspect every crack and flaw.

"Oh, what has he done to you? Poor thing. Hacking through trees and other such nonsense, probably just sits around cutting through rocks all day! tsk, tsk, tsk," he clucked with his tongue pitifully as a leather strip was pulled from some hidden compartment of his robes and used to rub against the blade in a back and forth motion, smoothing the surface. He then lost all interest in the actions of the rest of the group as he breathed fire over the blade until it glowed red hot, like an ember, before hammering away at the surface.

Inuyasha didn't know what was more infuriating. That the old man had lied to him his whole life, that he shows up suddenly out of the blue and treats him this way or that now the old codger was completely ignoring him, as if he didn't even matter. As if his anger didn't matter.

"Oi! Totosai! Give me back my sword!" he clamored, stomping across the camp to meet Totosai head on.

With a shriek of madness that made Inuyasha jump in surprise, Totosai raised the sword over his head and bellowed like a mad man before turning and sprinting into the trees.

Inuyasha raced to catch up to him, leaving everyone else in the clearing staring at the spot they'd just flown from.

Kaede shrugged. "Obaa-san,"she called gently, leading her grandmother to where Sango and Miroku sat tending to Kohaku. "This is the monk Miroku, who carries the curse of the wind tunnel."

Miroku bent at the waist in a deep, formal bow. "It is truly a most remarkable honor to be making your acquaintance this day, my lady of the Shikon."

Midoriko's eyes softened at the declaration of his title and she gazed at him in pity. "It is truly a cruel fate your ancestors have suffered with this wicked curse," she paused, placing one hand lightly on his own cursed one in a gesture of comfort and sincerity. "Take faith that my clan and I are doing everything in our power to see you fully restored."

Miroku was over come with emotion as she finished, only managing a nod as he suppressed a wall of tears from gathering in his eyes. He had never allowed himself to feel such hope and optimism about the outcome of their mission. One touch from this woman had allowed him to feel all that and he wasn't sure whether he should be elated or devastated. "I truly do not deserve your kindness but I am eternally indebted to you for your assistance."

Midoriko simply dismissed his pledge with a wave of her hand. "Friend of my family means you are friend to my clan, that goes for all of you," she announced, her gazed passing over all who were present significantly.

"And this is Sango, the slayer," Kaede continued with her introductions.

"Of course," Midoriko smiled warmly, extending a hand to Kilala, who immediately walked onto it. She extended the hand to Sango and the kitten jumped back to her companion's shoulders. "You'll have to forgive me," she smiled apologetically, "Kilala and I are old friends and it has been a long time since we last enjoyed each others' company."

Sango's eyes widened at the proclamation as Midoriko indulged her inquiring look. "Kaede has already filled you in on the real story of the jewel's creation, correct?"

Sango's nod was echoed by Inuyasha and the others, who were all equally interested in this story.

"I originated from your village, Sango-chan. I grew up around the demon slayers and they taught me to channel my holy powers into their strange weapons. As I grew into a woman and learned of my own approaching transformation, I knew that once the change had settled I could not stay with my companions and comrades, too great was their discrimination against youkai to tolerate me living with them. They had grown trusting and fond of Kilala, however and when the day came to do battle with Magetsuhi, I left her behind to protect them in my stead."

Sango nodded she understood, her eyes casting furtive glances where her brother lay sleeping.

"I faked my death with Magetsuhi and so the legend of the Shikon was born. I suppose looking back on it I can see where they would make the connection of my soul inhabiting the jewel but that's where they're wrong. I- Oh, dear, Kagome is back, isn't she?"

Sesshomaru turned briskly as he felt the well's magic activate just as Midoriko was cut off in her story, the motion calling the attention to all those present in the clearing.

Her return had his mind running fast, the implications heavy. Things were going to change, _she _was going to change. His dislike that their interactions could be inhibited by the revelation of her family, her destiny in the battle against Naraku or the responsibility she had been born into pressed against his conscience and it was then that he made his decision, unwavering and firm.

Looking up, he found everyone's attention was still fixed to his person and he narrowed his eyes in challenge. "I will return with Kagome," he supplied them before taking off in his ball of light towards the well.

Midoriko and Kaede shared a 'look' of suspicion, which moved to Miroku and Sango, who both looked pointedly away. Color rose high on Sango's cheeks and Kaede felt a fang bite her own lip as she tried to keep herself from laughing. The two obviously knew _something_.

"Ok, you lot. As Kagome would say: _Spill_."

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	20. Proposition

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

* * *

Sesshomaru sped through the trees at a speed most creatures could never dream of reaching without struggle. Inwardly, he tried to assure himself the reason for his haste lied solely on his desire to be an acceptable pack leader. It was the Alpha's responsibility to protect its female occupants and the girl...Kagome, should not be allowed to traverse through the woods at night by herself. He convinced himself of the several legitimate reasons to escort her from the well to her companions safely, the least of which being that her usual protector was currently indisposed of with a now-youthful Totosai; judging from their actions earlier, he assumed whatever was taking place would not be over any time soon. The slayer was seeing to her brother while the monk assisted; the only noble thing to do was volunteer to get her himself. What better way to announce that fact than by simply doing it? After all, actions have always spoken much louder than words.

Despite these assurances, he could not seem to stave off a peculiar, anxious feeling in his gut as her scent steadily became stronger on the wind. The only word he could possibly use to communicate this sensation was excitement though a distinct anticipation could be considered as well. He inwardly recalled the last time he had experienced a feeling powerful enough to distract him in the past, finding the memory to be hundreds of years old and regarding only moments of power and glory on his search for supreme conquest. Strange, that he would feel such a similar feeling of accomplishment, pride and anticipation when he thought about seeing _her _again.

His thoughts were cut off as he stepped into the clearing by the well. His amber eyes scanned the space before him with a deadly accuracy until fixating on the silhouette of her delicate form sitting on the wooden platform with her feet in the grass and her head tilted to the sky. Immediately, he was aware of two things: One, that he'd never seen a sight more beautiful and two, that he could no longer deny his attraction to her person. Because that's what it was.

She was sitting there, gazing at the stars as he'd seen her do a hundred times. Hadn't he done the same thing since he was young pup? Didn't he still get caught in their web of beauty? And why should he not allow himself to acknowledge that her shared love of this activity softened something deep inside him, something that longed to be touched, with approval and contentment? That this simple common ground could be the basis for something much deeper and could connect them in ways neither had ever acknowledged?

What had begun as intrigue had grown into respect. That respect had commanded his attention and invoked his desire to protect her. He was shocked to admit to himself that this respect and admiration had grown into a certain fondness that once awoken would not be ignored.

With his heightened vision, he was able to see every ebony strand reflected against the silver moon light as it gently rustled in a light, summer breeze that traversed her whole body, grabbing long folds of opalescent white and rich, navy blue fabric from her sleeves and hakama. They danced together in the wind around her ethereally, complimenting the pale tones of her porcelain skin while her eyes, those bright, magnificent, sapphire eyes sparkling with tones that spoke of their rich depth, shone beneath a black, thick sheath of curled lashes.

She appeared to be resting after a tiring experience. His gaze then fell on the strange, heavy sack she carried around all the time sitting haphazardly on the ground in front of her, accompanied by her bow and arrows, and he surmised she had tired herself trying climb out with it.

Kagome turned as she sensed a powerful but familiar demonic aura close by. At the sight of Sesshomaru's white form approaching her from the tree line, she felt her heart flip in her chest before visibly relaxing as she stood casually and her face broke out into a welcoming smile. As she came closer, a breeze moved between them and she found herself pausing to admire a certain scent. Distinct and nostalgic, like sitting before the fire during winter, it swam into her nostrils and they flared slightly as she tried to descipher it. Closing her eyes, she inclined her head as it filled her with warmth, a strength so solid she couldn't help but relax against it. She couldn't quite place it. She felt... _pleased_.

Sesshomaru paused mid-step as he recognized the action. She had caught his _scent_. Her senses were already beginning to strengthen and like an Inu bitch in heat, she had instinctively recognized him as pack by bearing the white of her throat to him.

Opening her eyes, all her senses seemed to focus, pinpointing the scent's proximity. Her breath hitched and her eyes widened as she realized not what but _who _the scent was permeating from and she nearly stumbled at the _strength _he exuded. How could she know that from a scent, she wondered, and why did it make her so weak? Her heart thudding in her chest, she fought to regain her compsure. His amber eyes seemed to glow against the night as he began to move forward once again.

"Oh, hiyo Sesshomaru-sama," she managed to greet him from a suddenly-dry throat.

His liquid strides came to an abrupt stop about a half foot from her body and she felt herself swallow heavily as she craned her head back to meet his gaze, rather than stare at his chest which was at face level.

He could feel the heat of her blood beating across his skin._ Thunk. Thunk. Thunk_. The rise as it surged through her veins, struggling to meet the needs of her racing heart.

"Have you come to escort me back to the others?" she squeaked, trying to ignore the rise in his scent along with the effect it had on her body.

"Hnn," He hummed against her and she shivered visibly as the sound was so deep it seemed to go straight through her body.

His face softened somewhat while a slight, affirmative nod answered her question.

Kagome nodded her understanding. "So I take it Inuyasha and the others are busy?" she prodded, hoping for clarification. Were they in danger? Was someone sick? She wanted to know. Why would Sesshomaru come for her, not anyone else?

"My brother and his companions are all safe and healthy, they are simply... preoccupied," he provided her neutrally in his usual curt way and Kagome breathed a sigh of relief at the declaration and a return to a countenance she was used to.

"But," his deep voice continued suddenly and Kagome's head snapped up in question as her breath instantly caught in her throat at the sight of a playful, suggestive smirk tugging at his usual deadpan expression. The warmth of his eyes as they traversed her body intently only added to the fire she felt when he casually licked his lips, revealing a set of elongating, razor sharp fangs.

With one, fluid step from him, their bodies were suddenly dangerously close. Kagome felt her heart begin to beat rapidly in her chest as his muscled arm snaked around her waist before pulling her torso firmly against his own.

She couldn't help it, she moaned. It was out of her throat before she could stop it but he didn't give her a chance to feel embarrased before she felt his hot breath against her neck as he breathed her in from her neck to her chin before continuing his sentence softly against the shell of her ear, the deep timber of his voice vibrating her very core with promise and husky intent, "Would you have refused my escort if they weren't preoccupied?"

Her mind was befuddled with the powerful, masculine scent of fire and ice that was so _him_. Her head swam as her cheeks flushed with color at his suggestion as she gasped in surprise when she felt his lips close over the flesh of her neck. He held her fast, licking and nibbling along her softest points, his lips insistent. She felt paralyzed, afraid to make a move lest he stop. It felt so _good _and she was sure she should be ashamed of herself, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. Her hands gripped onto the white fabric covering his biceps, pulling him closer and not wanting to let go.

He could feel her blood pressure rising, could smell her arousal thickening on the air, making his mouth water. Her tiny hands held him close as her breathing became ragged and her eyes closed softly against her cheeks. Her lips were parted as he pulled away and he supported the back of her head with one hand while the other was placed against her soft cheek. His thumb grazed softly over her rosy, bottom lip and just as she opened her eyes to meet his, he brought his mouth to her's.

The first time was long and sweet as he savored the significance of the moment, allowing his senses to become overwhelmed with the sight, the taste, the _feel _of her. His tongue swept across her rosy lips lightly, asking for permission.

"Hnnnnnnn," he moaned appreciatively and deeply against her as her lips parted, granting him access to her soft cavern. His tongue filled her mouth, massaging her's with long, skilled strokes, displaying his need for her as he drank the flavor of honeysuckle and rainwater that she provided him eagerly. Her scent spiked thickly in the air as he bent her head back, holding her against him in his arms.

Kagome couldn't move, couldn't believe what was happening. The tiny little peck of a kiss she'd shared with Inuyasha just didn't compare to _this_. She'd never dreamed, never allowed herself even a tiny shard of hope, that Sesshomaru could want _her_.

All the stress of the upcoming battle, the reunion with her family on this side, the transformation of her body left her mind until all that remained was that moment.

As they both parted for breath, Sesshomaru wound his arms around her waist and before she could protest, soared into the sky, going up, up, up above the scarce, purple clouds until they hovered in the air.

Kagome gasped as her eyes beheld the stars as she'd never seen them before. Brighter and closer than ever, they twinkled against an inky black drop of sky, the picture crowned with a skinny, crescent moon. Purple-gray clouds drifted softly at their feet as their bodies were bathed in the light of the moon and stars.

Far, far below them sat the rolling hills of Sengoku Jidai, the water from fields of rice glistening as the surface rippled against a light breeze.

"Oh Sesshomaru, it's beautiful!" she cried in thanks and wonder, her head falling back to take in the sight.

"This Sesshomaru is aware of how you admire the sky. Does this please you?"

Kagome tore her line of sight away from the sky to look at him as he spoke and was surprised to behold a vision more beautiful than the moon and stars. Sesshomaru was closer to her than he'd ever been before and bathed in the ethereal light as he was, she'd never seen a living creature look more perfect. His fair skin seemed to glow along with his silver hair, reflected against the moonlight like diamonds. His amber eyes, usually so cold and sharp, were soft and warm, alive with passion as he gazed at her. Powerful, chiseled arms held her gently aloft against a broad, muscled chest and she felt the blush rise to her cheeks again as her mind put together a picture based off what she could feel of Sesshomaru's body pressing against her.

"Sesshomaru..." she whispered in awe, not knowing quite what to say.

Sesshomaru's mind was taking a similar path, lost in the beauty and perfection of the female in his arms. When her head fell back, her black tresses spilled over his arms as her neck was revealed to him in an inadvertent sign of submission that left his blood boiling with want. When she bent back even further to see more of the stars, his eyes widened as he felt her sex press against him. His gaze roamed over her torso as her breasts rose and fell with the swell of her breath and when she leveled her head to look at him, he felt the air tear from his chest. Her Sapphire eyes twinkled against the starlight, surpassing them in wonder and majesty while her creamy, porcelain skin carried with it an otherworldly hue that hummed with power only gifted by the Kami. Her rosy lips were deliciously swollen from their last kiss and glistening with moisture.

He pressed his forehead to her's and closed his eyes softly. "Be mine," he whispered against her lips, begging, pleading, hoping for the desired answer.

Kagome gasped at the question, suddenly becoming very aware of the implication. Her eyes searched his for sincerity and in them she found an intensity that surprised her, that moved the very core of her being to open at his behest.

His rock hard chest was pressed against her, his strong arms held her aloft and even though she'd always held a fear of heights, she found she wasn't afraid of their distance from the ground, not even a little bit. Which could only mean she trusted him.

She felt her heart quicken in her chest as her breath came out in pants as it tried to keep up.

Sesshomaru scented the change of scent on the wind and locked eyes with his partner significantly as one hand snaked into her hair to cradle her head. He dipped his face to her's. Their lips met softly at first, then more urgently as she once again allowed herself to be swallowed and swayed by the pull of his aura.

As they parted for breath once again and Kagome rested her head against his shoulder, her nose pressed against his neck snugly, Sesshomaru sighed contentedly.

"I will take that as a _'yes'_," he answered her firmly and she giggled against him.

"Hmmmm," Kagome answered, playfully mimicking his usual response as she smiled against him and nodded.

Sesshomaru felt her smile, followed by the nod and allowed the slightest tilt of his lips into a mild grin. She had said yes. She was _his_.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	21. Pieces are falling

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Deep, deep underground, beneath the stagnant surface of a now-tainted lake writhing with miasma, Naraku sat in hiding while he regenerated his wounds and began to count his losses.

His flesh hung in pieces suspended delicately inside a purple barrier, slowing morphing the bits of himself back together as the wildlife around him slowly succumbed to his poison. Fish, turtles, everything slowly floated to the surface until all that remained were the wavering tendrils of blackened, rotting lake grass and the fresh corpses of animals that just piled onto each other without a predator in range to take advantage.

The pain of recreating his body was not as painless as he made it seem, outwardly wearing a calm, albeit frustrated, expression.

He now retained a mere quarter of the jewel fragments he had so pain-painstakingly collected throughout the years and the fact did nothing to help his already foul mood.

Kohaku had gotten away and he'd been bested by some random demons that came from out of nowhere...But that woman, he had to know who she was! Her face seemed so familiar, like he'd seen it before. The pale complexion, the raised cheekbones, the sharp glint of her blue eyes as they filled with outrage, her waves of ebony hair...

Despite the nagging sensation of recognition, Naraku was also distracted by other things that didn't add up. Why hadn't she taken his portion of the jewel? The feat was obviously well within her power at the time. But she had been so focused on the boy.

_'The boy, what does he mean to that woman? Where is the connection? How could she have benefited from saving him? And the man, he was old but then he was not...' _his head wanted to split in two at the amount of confusion following the day's events.

Once he'd gathered himself together properly and regenerated some vestiges of his former strength, he returned to yet another of his abandoned castles to summon his incarnations.

Kanna was the first to arrive, padding so softly into the receiving room of his quarters that he scarcely noticed her until she stood right before him, her pale attire and skin calling attention like a beacon of light in the darkness.

Her black eyes revealed no hint of emotion as her regarded her coldly. "Show me the demon woman that accosted me earlier."

The mirror in her hands swirled with ripples as the surface seemed disturbed before settling into the sight of images playing across the glass.

Naraku watched closely as the woman interacted with Inuyasha's tachi. His stomach turned to see how well they received her, how comfortably, even. A stranger in their midst and they trusted her completely.

He watched on as they seemed to be conversing to one another when it occurred to him that someone was missing from the scene. As his mind sought to discover who was absent, her name popped into his head and suddenly Naraku understood why the woman seemed so familiar. She looked like Kagome and Kikyo, resembled them, as only _family _could.

A wicked grin slid across his face. Perhaps now was the time to hatch a more devious plan.

Summoning the void child to come closer, he whispered explicit instructions to his servant, citing exact locations and descriptions before sending her on her way immediately.

Kagura landed in the courtyard of the failing castle grounds in a whirl of feathers and a swish of silk just as her sister, Kanna, was departing down its steps. They shared eye contact for a brief moment but said nothing to the other. Such was the way of serving Naraku, one would not incite any reason in him to make themselves suffer. Conversation was strictly prohibited. It was not a rule that he would ever have to voice aloud for everyone under his power to understand it was enforced, all the same.

The wind witch walked the halls at an even stride until turning into the foyer to greet her master.

As she came to stand before him, she bowed elegantly to the floor. "My lord, Naraku," she acknowledged him submissively in a graceful, soft tone. He did not miss the way her eyes slid down his form on their way to the floor or their slight hesitation before focusing down cast on the ground the way a good servant's should.

Naraku smiled lightly down at his incarnation. She had begun as a stubborn, untrustworthy little thing. Spiteful, cunning and cruel, she fought him every step of the way like a ball of fire. He had forgiven her transgressions of the past, understanding the need to rebel and defy as a fledgling demon early in their youth. He had built her to be a formidable female, after all and deceit and betrayal were traits he encouraged in his incarnations.

All her rebellion needed was a few nights chained up in a cell, as it turned out, to show her who was 'master.' Since then their interactions had become infused with a new understanding. The Wind Witch became every last bit of the powerful demoness he had made her to be and she carried out his will without question.

Silently, he had always approved of the amount of hatred that was so central to who she was. He had intentionally given her time to explore her options before bringing the leash crashing down around her neck.

Oh yes, she was broken and willing to be broken again and again. Even the knowledge that he held her heart had not frightened her, then. He had been cruel to get his point across in an intentional display of his power. A little persuasion went a long way with this one and she was now his loyal slave, too afraid to rebel or defy him, too devoted to him to even consider an escape.

"I have need of your services," he declared simply with a gleam in his eye as he fell silent in waiting.

The blood red of her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness with anticipation. Her pale hands pulled the obi holding her kimono closed as the fabric fell away, drifting softly to the cracked and splintering boards beneath her feet.

Naraku watched as her arms rose to her head, framing her perfect breasts to his line of sight as she pulled the feather free and with it, her hair came tumbling down around her shoulders.

"All that I am," she declared reverently, opening her arms to him.

Several tentacles shot out, winding around her arms and torso before lifting her into the air and dragging her forward. One wrapped around her neck and softly pushed her face against his until his lips crashed against them, forcing her jaws apart with his penetrating tongue that entered her mouth in deep strokes. As he worked her mouth, his hands unbound the knot holding his hakama around his waist and as his apparel fell to the floor, his tentacles wasted no time in maneuvering the woman's legs around his torso and pinning her arms above her head.

Kagura cried out as she felt him enter her harshly, hating and loving the sensation of pleasure and pain warring for her attentions. His engorged member thrust hungrily into her slick cavern, widening her passage with his girthy shaft.

"All that I have," he answered her heatedly, his lips turned into a devious grin that revealed a pair of sharp fangs. Slick tentacles ran over her nipples teasingly, one sliding over her clitoris in slow strokes while applying a soft, delicious pressure and one swirled softly between the parting of her buttocks, heightening all sensations tenfold.

She moaned as Naraku rumbled his satisfaction when her orgasm took over her body, her walls closing around the thick shaft tightly. His thrusts picked up in speed as she was slammed against him again and again until she felt her body begin to tighten in anticipation once more.

"You will take my seed, wind witch," he commanded roughly through clenched teeth as he continued to pound into her. "It will pour into your womb during this coupling and your pleasure will see you bare fruit. Cum and accept my seed as part of yourself!"

Kagura moaned loudly, feeling the beginning of many hot spurts of liquid shooting into her body. She could not hold off the powerful orgasm that gripped her, despite her attempts and Naraku felt it the instant she tightened around him again.

She felt him begin to pump his essence in her and that was all it took. Her resistance snapped as her eyes saw stars while her body lay slack, supported only by his appendages as her orgasm rolled over her in powerful waves.

The seed poured into her, falling down her legs. If one were to look closely, they would see that it never reached the floor, however, but clung to her thighs before slowly rolling up of its own accord to her bent, spread legs. It forced itself back into her opening like a living piece of his body even as his manhood continued to ravage her and still his release was not complete. A full minute of him sliding and pumping it in and out of her, releasing all that liquid until her womb felt _heavy. _

He withdrew and laid her naked, spent form on a rotting futon lodged into the corner of the room.

It took Kanna three days to find the remains of the hut Urasuwe had resided in. The bridge to her mountain had been destroyed, so she had been left to seek other methods to find her way across.

She sent the call through the link in their minds. _'Master. I cannot cross.'_

His response was immediate, as instant as only thought could be. _'What stands in the way?'_

_'The bridge has fallen,' _she retorted silently, her tone even and lacking in emotion. With her response, she sent images detailing the scene.

The barrier had emerged to encase her tiny form and she floated across the chasm in the mountain as easily as if she had wings.

As soon as her feet touched soil on the other side, she became aware of the piles of broken clay pieces laying everywhere, some depicting an eye or a finger, some too small and undefined to be considered anything at all. It was apparent to Kanna that these were the clay soldiers of Urasuwe's army defeated at the hands of Inuyasha and Kaede on the day Kikyo was summoned into a false life.

Kanna impeccably remembered all that she had ever revealed to her master and Naraku contemplated many things. Events that she was not born to witness were called into her mirror, the void having access to all knowledge from all time frames if only one were to ask the right questions.

She remembered this memory well. The girl, Kagome, had been bound by the witch, drugged and laid in a large, stone tub filled with a sticky concoction of herbs. The false body of Kikyo stood off to the side as the witch summoned Kikyo's soul to rise from Kagome. She remembered watching the great dome of light surround them as Inuyasha and Kaede came quickly to the scene, a sense of urgency overtaking their movement as the sounds of Kagome's screams filled the clearing.

Kanna's mirror had not displayed any sound to her Master, not since her creation. That was not to say that she didn't hear everything or even that it was out of her capability to allow the sound into her displays...But no one had ever thought to ask and her Master had always just assumed it beyond her ability. She simply did nothing to correct the assumption.

So when she had shown this particular occurrence to Naraku, he had not heard Kikyo's soul as it cried, _'Do not call out for me,' _in a pleading, desperate tone. He didn't hear her again when Inuyasha's eyes landed on her false body, pleading, _'Do not call out my name!' _He didn't hear it when Inuyasha uttered one word. "K-Kikyo..."

He was only aware of the moment Kagome's heart skipped a beat and Kikyo's soul sprang forth. Kagome's eyes went blank as death while her back arced, the dome growing and growing in size and intensity until one sudden blast sent the energy upward and shot in the direction of Kikyo's imitation body.

How Kanna had wondered at the expression on the revived miko's face as her hands came up to touch her cheeks somewhat sadly, relishing in the first feeling she'd had in over fifty years. She stood, suspended in air as the orbs of light regenerated her to something resembling what life had been like before being lowered to the ground softly.

She knew that if Kagome were truly the reincarnation of Kikyo, the act would have killed her. As it was, she woke up and while she she seemed to take _something _from the reanimated form of Kikyo, Kanna knew it was not her soul. That, she still had. Otherwise, she would not have been capable of even taking her first breath.

The altercation immediately following was such a barrage of deep hurt and misunderstanding that even Kanna nearly swayed on her feet in sympathy for the parties so hideously tangled together in her Master's web of malice.

Kanna felt she could sympathize with Kikyo, if sympathize was really the word. Knowing that she had been reborn into a hallow shell, an empty statue, could be associated with the hollowness of the void. She was nothing, not even a whisper. No will. No anticipation. No desires. She didn't hope or dream. She just _was _and she just _knew_. She had not even the will to call her own visions into her mirror, so bereft was she of feeling. While she was aware of other emotions around her and why they existed, there was barely a hint of them inside herself. She knew it would take a great calamity to her heart to invoke even the slightest psychical movement not attributed to the command of another's will.

They were alike in that they both knew the emptiness of death, could feel its icy touch intimately. It was a natural thing for the void, being of no certain time or place. Kikyo had experienced death and remembered what it was like to be dead upon her resurrection, something a living mortal could not do.

As the trees cleared, the abandoned, ruined hut finally came into view.

The entrance was a simple clearing that housed a hole set straight into the mountainside. She took the narrow pathway silently, padding softly over the well-worn dirt floor.

The first room she came to was virtually empty save for wooden tables lined with dusty bottles of herbs that offered a muffled glint of moonlight from their surfaces as she passed. The second was taken up by large mounds of clay fresh from the earth. The raw material took up most of the space as the girl-child traversed the expanse, weaving around each pile gracefully.

She passed a row of kilns on one side of the room while the other housed several beds that were carved into the bare, dirt floor, the fabric of the bedding rotted and torn with age.

Kanna padded through the ruins lightly, her tiny sandals making no sounds to announce her arrival. She weaved through the darkness, her black eyes seeing all, stepping slowly over overturned furniture and broken glass.

Finally, she came to an alcove off to the far north-east side of the place. A large, stone podium stood at the back atop a small, raised platform.

Kanna walked up the stones and gathered the book carefully from its stand. It was large and heavy, the outside caked with dust and spiderwebs. She was sure this was what she came for but her hands cleared away the thick dust despite her confidence.

As Kanna read the title she sent the call to her Master signaling that she had found what she came for and she was ready to come home.

Naraku responded by laughing sinisterly in her mind and summoning her immediately to his castle. He took the book in his hands, reading the cover that read, _'Book of the Dead' _with approval.

Kanna stood at his side silently, her eyes unmoving. She did not have to look about the room to see everything that was there, including her naked, sleeping sister on the futon back in a dark corner, who moaned softly and clutched her stomach in pain.

Sometimes it was better to be without feelings, she thought.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel.**


	22. Into Place

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome recalled her reunion with her grandparents and sister as surreal. In fact, the entire night, from the moment she'd stepped through the well, had been like a fantasy. Well, more than usual for what she called normal, anyways.

First, there had been the lovely encounter with Sesshomaru, awakening her to desires long felt and yet never acknowledged. She'd agreed to court him, still not quite believing he'd taken an interest in her, of all people.

His touch was light and gentle as he carried her on his cloud back to camp, only releasing her reluctantly once they'd landed before none other than Midoriko, Kaede, Sango and Miroku. Shippo, Kohaku and Rin lay fast asleep by the fire still, unperturbed, while Inuyasha and Totosai had not yet returned.

Midoriko took a long, hard look at her granddaughter, who she had only ever seen in visions and dreams. She placed a hand beneath Kagome's chin and tilted her face, memorizing her features. A warm smile that reached into her bright, blue eyes spread across her face.

Likewise, Kagome regarded the woman she had seen in the painting back in her time thoughtfully. Her clothing seemed to be made of the dark clouds themselves, drifting about her in the breeze as if weightless and yet glimmering with the sheen of the finest dark silk.

Like accepting that Kaede was not an old woman, seeing her grandmother looking no older than her own mother was a little off setting. The only difference between this woman and the woman in the portrait was the shock white streaks that now lined her hair. Knowing the picture had to have been painted centuries before she was born, Kagome was given a good idea of just how long she would live and just how long it would be before she began to show any signs of aging.

"Kagome, come here child," Midoriko broke the silence first, smiling warmly and opening her arms wide.

Kagome smiled widely before throwing herself into her grandmother's embrace for the first time. She was rocked like a babe for a minute before gradually pulling away, each laughing at the other with an awkward kind of tenderness for the other than was still too new to really process.

She embraced Kaede next, her sister, who grinned sheepishly, flashing fangs, before returning the hug with enough force to knock the very breath out of her.

Sango hugged her next, followed by Miroku at the same time, who surprisingly kept his hands to himself. "It's good to have you home," Sango confessed honestly as she hugged her companion.

"Yes, Kagome," Miroku agreed with a bow. "Things have been quite interesting around here as of late. Your relatives are quite an amorous bunch, I am inclined to admit," he teased, his eyes giving away his mirth.

Kagome giggled. "I can imagine. Well, I guess you pretty much know everything, seeing as how Kaede is here and not in the form of an old mortal woman. Not to mention the arrival of my grandparents. Speaking of which, where is Totosai?" she questioned, looking to her grandmother for an answer.

"Teaching Inuyasha a lesson in manners, I would presume," Midoriko answered somewhat dryly, though the corners of her mouth lifted the tiniest fraction, belying her tone.

Kagome was a bit embarrassed to realize she hadn't even noticed Inuyasha was absent before her grandmother said that. Looking around the camp now, she noticed another occupant present and gasped. "Kohaku!" Kagome ran to kneel at his side, immediately bringing the blue glow of purification to the back of his neck where the shard remained defiled. She knew there had been something prickling at her senses when she arrived, but with the multitude of massive demonic auras and the reiki from herself and Miroku, it was hard to distinguish between them. She mentally cursed herself for being so ignorant and not noticing the sensation sooner. No doubt, Sango did not want to interrupt her meeting with her grandmother and Kagome gave herself another mental kick for not realizing that, too.

The blackened shard tried to resist the purification but after she focused her power into concentrating into a potent ball, the darkness gave way and the shard was left glittering pink with purity.

Kohaku coughed, sputtering at the fire as he breathed in deep. His eyes opened wide, empty at first before filling with life and awareness to take in his surroundings. He shot up out of bed, suddenly fearful and nearly knocking Kagome to the ground in his haste to rise. "No! NO!" he screamed, clenching his eyes shut tight and clasping the back of his neck in fear. Sesshomaru rose with the others in alarm at his state, watching carefully as the demon slayer took over.

"Kohaku!" Sango called out to him, instantly taking him by the arms. "You're ok, he's not here. Shhh, you're ok now, everything's fine," she continued to assure him as he shook violently against her, his teeth chattering as if with cold and his eyes unseeing.

"He's in shock," Kagome muttered with concern, reaching for her bag before realizing with a sinking feeling she'd left it in the clearing by the well. They'd never returned to retrieve it before heading back here. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she considered what to do.

Midoriko gathered blankets about the boy as Kaede went to the river for water and herbs, hoping to brew a tea to calm his nerves. Miroku cast a sedative incense in the fire, sending plumes of sweet-smelling smoke throughout the camp while Sango merely held her brother to her chest, rocking back and forth and cooing as if to a child.

Shippo and Rin, previously content to entertain each other, now had worried eyes trained on Kohaku as he thrashed.

The suffering and worry that everyone was feeling funneled through Kagome's mind and straight into her heart, like a heavy pressure on all her senses with the children being the strongest pull of all. They were young and still had so much to learn. It was so easy to forget sometimes that they were capable of feeling an amount of fear that adults could or would not allow given their maturity and experience to stop those things before they got out of hand. The children, however, did not have that sense of control yet and their fear was a tangent thing in her mind.

Sensing her distress, Sesshomaru approached Kagome as she seemed to war with herself on the sidelines. As she noticed him, she looked up, a relieved expression on her face.

"Sesshomaru, Kohaku's in shock. I have some medicine that will help him in my bag, but-"

"I will retrieve it."

"Th-Thanks!" she stammered, blushing. "I'm really sorry, I-" she was halted by his hand resting lighting against her lips and she blushed again.

"My pleasure, Koi," he whispered against the shell of her ear before pulling back and continuing in a normal tone. "It is this Sesshomaru's fault the bag was left behind. Forgive me, I was...distracted."

Kagome blushed prettily with surprise and flattery as he released her arm and with one last glance, summoned his cloud and quickly flew across the skies to reach the clearing by the well.

She smiled over at Rin, gaining the little girl's attention along with her playmate. "He's going to be fine," she assured them, silently approving of the way her voice did not tremble.

Kohaku had not gotten better when Sesshomaru returned and Kagome sent him a small smile of thanks as she tore into her bag, freeing her first aid kit. Lifting the white lid displaying a bright, red cross on the cover, she separated the many stackable shelves until she came to the bottom, where her mother had stored all her important prescription medicine.

Her mother had told Kagome they had a doctor in the family to explain why she had a collection of usually hospital-administered drugs. Now that she knew her family's actual history, however, there was no telling where the drugs had come from.

She shrugged, knowing there was no way she was about to let the the fact of where they came from get in her way of helping Kohaku. After gathering the medicine in the syringe, she strode forward, kneeling at his side.

She looked into Sango's horrostruck eyes at seeing the long needle. Blanching at the obvious trek her friend's mind had taken, she cursed herself for not thinking to explain things first.

"Sango, first I want you to know that everything is going to be ok. Your brother is just in shock. But I need to give him this to calm him down. It will put him back to sleep, but unlike the sleep he gets from the tainted shard, this will wear off. Do you trust me?"

Sango nodded quickly, but shakily. "Of course, Kagome, whatever you have to do."

Kagome held the device up to the light of the fire and thumped it, pressing the applicator a bit to get the air out of it and ignoring the focused attention she was getting from everyone present. Once she'd seen a few drops squirt out she looked up to Miroku.

"Do you have anything to tie off his arm off with?" she asked searchingly.

Miroku jumped to the occasion, eager to help the situation. He fumbled with the ties to his own obi, folding his robes so they wouldn't fly open. He tied the sash tightly where Kagome pointed, being sure to cut off the blood flow as she'd instructed.

When she was sure she had a good vein lined up, Kagome pushed the needle into Kohaku's skin as Sango held him tightly and pushed the liquid contents into his bloodstream.

Kohaku's grip immediately slackened while his breathing returned to normal.

Kagome and everyone else in the camp seemed to sigh with relief as the boy was laid back on his pallet in a deep, peaceful sleep.

"Oh, Kagome," Sango moaned, sending her friend and comrade a watery smile. "What would we do without you?"

Kagome blushed. "I wouldn't have been able to do anything were it not for modern medicine. And I wouldn't have had the medicine if my mother hadn't of packed it for me ages ago. So there's no need to thank me, I'm just the messenger here," she insisted modestly.

Sango only smiled and pulled her sister into a fierce hug.

Midoriko wiped a tear quickly from her face, smiling brightly at the two women embracing. Kaede giggled at her sensitivity to the moment, though she felt equally proud of her sister, Miroku continued to look amazed and awed by the 'syringe' and Sesshomaru turned his gaze away from the embracing females altogether.

No one at the camp had ever even seen a syringe before, much less watched it administered. Kagome launched into a long explanation where, from what Sesshomaru had gathered in his observations, the contents were essentially a very, very concentrated form of the herbs used in this time, enhanced by something called 'science' and 'botany'. She then explained how the drug was administered directly to the blood stream, so there wasn't any waiting time for the body to absorb it.

"It's only used in emergency situations," she assured them after seeing their disturbed faces. "It probably didn't even register to Kohaku at all and if I were to give it to one of you, you'd only feel a slight pinch before it was all over."

Sesshomaru felt pride swell inside him for his intended and her display of wit and intelligence. She gave herself little credit for her actions, as modest as a mouse. Yet, he knew she was so much more. Fierce, like a hidden predator, disguised as a delicate thing. Her enemies were doomed to underestimate her abilities to their deaths.

It was so much more than that, however. It was the way she carried herself so naturally even at such a young age, with a grace and elegance to rival that of any Hime, Lady, Empress or Queen he had ever met. When had she stopped being that clumsy girl on the sidelines with a shaking bow and even sadder arrows? Now she was a skilled warrior, a formidable one.

Two glittering, silver sai peaked from the ties of her obi in the firelight. Her bow and quiver had been laid next to the place she was preparing to sleep, well within her reach and he felt his gaze snag momentarily on the strange, white wood and the bright blue of her arrow feathers before passing them over. He watched as she prepared her pallet and so he noticed when a pine cone falling off in the forest made her left ear twitch slightly, detecting the sound from a distance she should not have been capable. Shrugging, she sat next to Kaede and Sango to chat quietly over another round of tea as Rin and Shippo drifted off to sleep.

Yet, that thing she had always posessed even before her experiences honed her abilities was still the most central part of who she was. Her heart. Not just any small, tainted thing, no, it was a _massive _thing that knew no bounds. There was always more room for compassion. Always more room for forgiveness. There would always be time to save someone else, to do the right thing.

She was _honorable_. And he knew it looking at her just like he knew her hair was black, her eyes were blue and she smelled of honeysuckle and thunderstorms. A true heart of gold, filled to the brim with love, acceptance and tolerance and yet...this ability to turn, to become so protective it was borderline ruthless. He knew a spark cast at her kindling was dangerous, with whispers of the word_ 'wildfire' _to guide his wayward thoughts into a frenzy and he found there that he was not looking forward to the day that wrath was aimed at him as the focus, though it was only one of the many things that he was beginning to truly adore about her.

_Adore_. His mind picked the word up and examined it in the light from every angle he could with a curiosity and a need to understand that only someone falling in love could relate with. Not that his mind had made the giant leap from 'adore' to 'love' yet but it was enough, still, to send an iron spike of reality into his gut and the significance it carried with it was slightly staggering. This woman was becoming..._essential_.

_'Ah, there is another one of those alien words come to toy with your mind,' _he huffed silently in displeasure at his mind's apparent lack of willpower. It felt surprisingly _good _to need something so badly. And what he needed was to see her safe, secure and by his side for so long as he should roam the earth.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	23. Lessons

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Inuyasha fought to keep up with the mad man carrying his Tetsusaiga through the woods by following his shrieks of taunting laughter as he leapt from tree to tree and sprinted at speeds faster than anything Inuyasha had ever seen this old man accomplish; then again, the once feeble sword smith didn't look so old anymore. Which begged the question, why had he appeared that way in the first place?

"Keh, as long as I get my sword back I don't care what form he takes. Let him prance around the woods like a fucking monkey after this for all I care," he vented heatedly as he pushed himself off yet another tree branch in the direction of the fading, sing-song voice.

"You hear that, Totosai! Just give me back my sword and I won't have to hurt you!" he bellowed to the woods, his fist raised in the air threateningly. A flock of crows was disturbed by the sound and flew away from their perches, cawing their upset.

It was hot and he was already sweating against the heat, panting to keep up. It was also very dark and while his vision was usually excellent at night, his exertion made him weary.

They were already a long ways from camp, having covered several miles. He hated to admit it, but the distance and constant speed was beginning to wear him down, though he was nothing if not determined.

Overhead, the three headed Ox mooed and Inuyasha looked up just in time to see it launch an attack of fire balls at his feet. Leaping into the air and swinging hard right around a tree trunk gave him just enough velocity to avoid the first set of blasts that tore through earth and wood alike, sending large clouds of debris into the sky.

Inuyasha gaped at the power behind each blow but the cow was quick and another round was shortly on the way. He didn't have time to assess his shock at the seriousness or close proximity of the attack before another was right on his heels.

Flipping to avoid another blast, he spied a clearing through the next wood and pushed hard to reach it. As soon as he got his first glimpse through the trees, he found Totosai, standing in the center with Tetsusaiga tucked in his obi. The long, heavy hammer he used to forge weapons was slung over his broad shoulders, no longer looking so out of proportion to his once small body. Now, his chest and arms had filled out with muscles, his legs chiseled with the same hard cut. His skin was bronzed and his long, earthy green robes complimented his chestnut brown hair.

Inuyasha leapt, halting only when they were face to face in order to size him up. He was almost taller than Sesshomaru, he noted, towering over his own form quite a bit and the broadness of his shoulders suggested he was of a larger build.

"Keh, giving up already?" Inuyasha baited, trying to slow his breathing so as to not seem affected by their previous exercise.

Totosai's emerald green eyes glinted with mischief. "Courtesy is the bedrock upon which honor may rest," his deep voice carried across the clearing seriously. "If you can answer that one line for me, I will hand over the Tetsusaiga."

Inuyasha's claws dug into the earth as he poised for attack. Without warning, he flew at Totosai with all the power his legs could give him. "I don't need to answer no fucking riddle to get my sword back!"

He swiped his claws but came up on empty air right at the point of contact as Totosai disappeared. Blinking his surprise, Inuyasha whirled around to find him moved to the other side of the clearing and looking at him with a bored expression.

"I'll give you another hint, since you've never been the sharpest sword on the rack," he bribed with a long grin of satisfaction hearing Inuyasha's snarl. "Behave in the valley as if you have nothing to fear from the mountains."

With a scream of frustration, Inuyasha lunged forward again, this time sweeping to the ground at the last second in an attempt to land a blow on the back of his knees. Shock registered on his face when he made contact but Totosai's stance remained unmoved.

Claws flexed, he sprung from the ground, lashing at the man's torso, who did nothing to block the attack. But instead of feeling his claws pierce flesh, they came up hard against a tough metal and he cringed as he felt their strength waver against the heavy material.

"A chest plate," he realized with horror and pulled his hands back as if they'd been burned. He was no fool. Totosai was a master sword smith; he had access to the rarest forms of metal, _unbreakable _forms. Forms strong enough to rip his claws out.

With a bit of a wince, he cradled his wounded claws and took a step back. When Totosai flashed him a feral grin, Inuyasha suddenly felt real trepidation.

The Ox was above him again, just waiting to unleash another hell bent attack. As Inuyasha faltered, he found in Totosai's eyes a flash of fire and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid a blast of flame breath that he knew would've been hot enough to damage even his robe of the Firerat.

He tucked and rolled across the clearing, settling a safe distance away and cursed as he glimpsed Totosai raising his hammer in the air like a staff before bringing it crashing down to the earth. A glowing, white circle spun around him on the ground as Inuyasha was suddenly targeted with a rain of fire from the sky.

As he tried to leap from the circle, Totosai snapped his fingers and a cage of fiery tendrils shot up from the ground and lashed out at his legs like roots coming from the ground. The sound of sizzling and screams filled the air as the flames wrapped around his ankles and calves, trapping him in a cage of fire and forcing him to endure the attack.

Large, oozing balls of molten lava crashed around all sides of him as he danced within the circle, trying to avoid the falling fire. One crashed into his shoulder, searing the material of his robe and he winced as he felt some of it trickle down his back, searing flesh. The loud collision as fire met rock shook the ground and deafened his ears over and over as his eyes began to blur.

Not only that, but even missing the attacks seemed not enough as their impact with the earth sent flying bits of hot fire and magma into his face, hair, eyes and clothes.

As the attack slowly receded, Inuyasha laid in the blackened pit, his robes and hair smoking as his face remained pressed into the earth. He took deep, quick breaths as he fought to regain his composure and thought, long and hard, about what Totosai had asked him.

_'Courtesy is the bedrock upon which honor may rest and Behave in the valley as if you have nothing to fear from the mountains.'_

Courtesy and honor, valley and mountains...what did they have in common? Inuyasha thought himself courteous. He'd saved countless villages, hadn't he? He was a hero. So when hadn't he been courteous?

Thinking of past encounters with the old, feeble sword smith, he fought the urge to wince. How many times had he knocked him around? Called him an 'old geezer' or laughed outright at his ridiculous antics? He knew Totosai had been a good teacher. Despite blaming everything on being old, the man had always done right by Inuyasha, teaching him about his sword and the ways of his father.

He was like a mentor to him while growing up. As a pup, Totosai and Myouga were really the only two beings he conversed with, though he and his brother tended to fight pretty regularly.

So, why hadn't he had more respect for him, then? And what did that have to do with the riddle?

_'Behave in the valley as if you have nothing to fear from the mountains.'_

Maybe it meant if you were courteous all the time, no matter where you were or who you were with, you wouldn't have anything to fear.

As he got older and began to grow into his abilities, Inuyasha had to admit he had considered Totosai's fragility as an old man as a convenient coincidence, one that he had to take advantage of.

Any time he was told something in riddle form or made to work it out mentally he would just hit the silly sword smith upside the head until he told him directly, ignoring his attempts to make him work it out on his own. Threatening the 'old man' into spilling the information seemed almost like a routine now, it was so predictable.

To find out that he had been more than capable of defending himself all along was shocking. The fact he hadn't blown his lid about it yet was a true mark in his level of patience, Inuyasha knew. If he put himself in that situation, the behavior wouldn't have lasted two seconds before being corrected. But he had endured it, all at the cost of keeping his identity under wraps.

Inuyasha had grown up with Totosai but he'd never met or even _knew _he had a mate until now, much less children or grandchildren of his own. He must have known there was alot at stake if the whereabouts of Midoriko ever got out. So he had endured Inuyasha's pestering, threats, impatience and petulance all those years because that was the cost of keeping them safe and because on some level, he did not trust Inuyasha entirely to keep the secret.

_'Courtesy is the bedrock upon which honor may rest.'_

The newest information of all, however, was that Totosai was the _grandfather _of both Kikyo and Kagome, two women that he was dead guilty of being romantically entangled with in some way or another. While he had never been intimate with either of them, he had certainly been let into their hearts at one time and could not look this man in the eyes and tell him that it was not true, that he did not deserve to have a male of their line come to make him pay this penalty for what he done with their hearts.

Perhaps he could be redeemed when it came to Kikyo, because they had been betrayed by Naraku but when it came to Kagome, offering her heart on a silver platter and the way he had been too weak to deny her affections despite knowing his heart had always belonged to her _sister_...

And now, for Totosai to be released from his ancient ruse, to arrive before him in true form for the first time... Inuyasha felt himself smiling despite the pain of his burns. _Of course _he had to antagonize him into a brawl to make him understand.

His actions had not been courteous or honorable. He supposed the way in which he'd been asking for his sword had not been so honorable or courteous, either.

With a groan, he raised his head and began to rise from the ashes, covered in soot and scorch marks. All around, the air was filled with white flakes from the burning, scorched landscape. Trees were splintered and catching flame, filling the air with the burning scent of Pine and Oak.

He could not believe the amount of devastation the space had come to before he made the realization. Such is the cost of enlightenment, he mused. No wonder they had run so far from camp before Totosai unleashed his attack.

The demon gave him a hard, expecting look, his arms folded across his chest and his brow risen nearly into his hairline. "Well?" he drawled impatiently, tapping his foot.

Inuyasha clenched his fists at his sides, but said nothing as he approached him, his body still smoking from the last attack. As he came to stand before him, he nodded once.

"Sir, may I please have my sword back?"

Totosai's scowl melted off his face and was replaced with a dazzling grin. "Certainly, you may," he answered easily and pulled the newly-sharpened blade from his obi, offering it to the hanyou with a polite bow.

He took it from him gratefully, immediately sheathing the blade.

"What have you learned?" Totosai prodded like a teacher to his pupil.

Inuyasha sighed, his head bowing against his chest. "Always act my station."

"Thaaaat's right, pup," Totosai drawled with a chuckle, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "Now, let's go back to camp. I have a grand-daughter to meet."

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	24. Prepared

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Back in the castle ruins, Naraku sat languidly in the darkness of his quarters thumbing through the dusty pages of Urasuwe's spell book, the _'Book of the Dead.' _It was quite an enlightening little thing, indeed. However, there was nothing quite like hands on experience and that was just what he needed to understand the concept entirely.

He played and replayed the entire scene from Kikyo's resurrection in Kanna's mirror again and again, following her death in Inuyasha's arms. Particularly, the exact moment when her body disappeared and presumably, the remains Urasuwe had baked into the clay.

How was he supposed to bring Kikyo back as his slave if her remains were no where to be found? Or maybe there _were _remains, only they were left in the clothing?

"Show me the day Inuyasha buried Kikyo," he barked, his sharp command piercing through the air like a blade.

Kanna approached from her position in the corner to stand before her Master as the surface of the mirror held in her pale hands rippled like water before changing into a picture.

Naraku grinned against the dark, faint flashes of moonlight catching on his fangs and glinting across the room like a predator.

"Kanna, I'm afraid I'm going to be sending you on another mission," he confessed woefully, though his face twisted into undeniable glee.

"Yes, Master," Kanna complied, needing no further explanation.

As she padded softly from the room, she spied the wind witch lying fast asleep on the futon, her face set with deep lines of exhaustion. Her hair was a tangled mess about her head and the sheets wrapped about her form revealed the state of her undress quite obviously. One breast had fallen defiant of its wrappings and seemed to grab at Kanna's attention like a giant, glowing, pale orb in the constant dreary darkness of the rotting castle.

Kagura was always asleep when she came now, ever since that last day she had seen her in the courtyard. She was frequently away from the castle but that did not mean she was blind to what was happening while she wasn't in it. Although her mirror could show her whatever she wished to see at any time, the void child felt she did not want to watch, first hand, what she knew in her gut must be happening.

She had long ago lost the ability to express emotion but that didn't mean she didn't feel it, slight as it may be. Watching her master's dark expression distort upon glancing at the wind witch into a mad like lust was disturbing.

Worse, was now she would bare his spawn. Even now, early as it may be, Kanna could sense her womb quickening, her aura spasmodic as it fed the dark growth.

A pang of regret and pity echoed against the walls of her being.

Still, she passed by at her usual pace without hesitating out the door. She did not spare Kagura a glance. The consequences were too high.

As she stepped down off the wooden porch onto the dusty earth of the courtyard, a barrier appeared and lifted her to the sky before shooting off in the direction Naraku ordered, followed by a hoard of lower level demons and a swarm of Siamyosho.

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Once Totosai had returned with a rather subdued looking Inuyasha, he had requested some time to speak with his family at length and the four of them whispered long into the night.

They retired a little ways from camp, though still in view, nestled under a under a clutch of young trees interspersed through out the clearing.

At first, they chatted about small things. Kagome talked about Souta and Ji-chan and explained life at the shrine. She caught them up on her mother's health and talked about the education systems in her time. That led to the topic of medical advances and Kagome was happy to shed light where ever the conversation went.

But soon the subjects began to turn onto more serious matters. Her grandfather fixed her with a hard look before beginning the very conversation she was dreading.

"Well, Kagome, it's been lovely catching up and I must say I am very, very pleased and proud to call you my granddaughter," he acknowledged with a wink. "But I'm afraid that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I assume your mother has given you the vision quest before coming here?"

Kagome nodded reverently. "I know what you would ask, grandfather. I simply wish to take precautions in protecting the confidentiality of my words. Also, I only wish to speak of it once, so it might be a good idea to get everyone together."

"You're quite right, my dear, that is very wise of you," Midoriko praised her as they all sat back to consider just how they could go about having this meeting without having to worry about eavesdropping.

Kaede was the first to speak up. "Perhaps a cave with a sound barrier, overlaid by both demon and miko powers. If we combined them in layers, nothing could get through."

Kagome and Totosai seemed to agree but it was Midoriko who seemed doubtful.

"I don't know how well that would work. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea, because it's brilliant-no being other than another Godai Inuyoukai would be capable of dropping both layers. No, what worries me is the potential of one barrier weakening the other by their close proximity."

"We'll just have to do a test run," Totosai decided. "It may be that if the powers used accept one another, they will not cancel each other out."

"No better time than the present," Kagome quirked as she picked up a rock and laid it in front of her. She raised her hand with her palm facing the rock and concentrated on calling her miko powers to the forefront of her mind. The rock would act as the grounding base of her barrier.

Her hands ignited into pink flame with her focus, casting pink light all around the gathered occupants and immediately calling the attention of those left seated at the fire, interested in the project that was unfolding.

Kagome ignored them, concentrating instead on making a small, miniature barrier around the rock in front of her. To her relief, when she opened her eyes, she saw just what she was hoping for and smiled.

Looking up, she blushed under the gazes of her family. "It's just a barrier," she muttered weakly, shrugging in embarrassment.

Midoriko giggled and summoned her aura, a rich purple light, at her fingertips. "Now remember, I have no holy light. This is a purely demonic barrier."

Everyone nodded as with a wave of her hand, a larger barrier encased the first, the bright purity of pink shining like a beacon of light beneath a larger barrier of royal purple.

The three held their breath as they waited it out, neither sensing the other barrier weakening. After several minutes without either walls experiencing any detrimental side effects, it was determined that the idea was foolproof and they each began to discuss plans on when and how to get everyone together without it looking obvious.

Eventually, they decided the take the conversation to the fire, where Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango all waited silently.

Inuyasha suggested a convenient, prime location not far from where they were and after agreeing to embark immediately at daybreak, the group retired for the night, intent on getting enough rest to weather the coming days ahead.

They could all feel the shift signaling a pick up in pace in their journey across Japan. The critical moments were coming, they knew and together, they braced for impact.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	25. Claimed

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Kagome awoke to a loud crash and sat up out of her sleeping bag, her eyes wide and frantically searching for the cause as her instincts were trained to cautiously fear an attack. Her attention was caught by a cluster of orange and yellow sparks reaching into the morning air from the campfire as she realized the sound she'd heard _must _have come from a log shifting close to her head. She noticed their similarity but it was the _volume _that was disproportionate.

Confusion marred her brow as she tried to concentrate on her senses. The crackling of the flames seemed loud and obtrusive suddenly while the amount of heat cast onto her face was making her sweat. She backed away quickly, still tired and confused with the slightest touch of fear altering her senses. Why was it bothering her so much suddenly?

A soft, tapping sound moving away from her body drew her eyes to the ground and they widened again as she realized she was listening to the tiniest ant crawl away from her.

A crow screeching overhead made her jump in place again as her hands came up to shield her overly sensitive ears. It had sounded like the thing was perched right on her shoulder, although she knew it was a short distance away. The fluttering tap of the creature's wing beat lingered in her ears as it flew across the distant tree tops. As she focused a little more, she realized she could also hear the bubbling gurgle of a spring nearby along with the crack and hiss of wood and foliage as it succumbed to the will of the wind rushing through it.

All at once, she was suddenly aware of how _alive _everything was. The sounds seemed to combine in her head, merging and distorting into one, chaotic heartbeat until she thought her brain was going to explode trying to pick them apart to tell what they were. One particular sound was grating to her nerves, turning her stomach over with the buzzing flap of insect wings, the sliding sound of hives of them crawling over one another. Nests of cockroaches, bees, ants, worms... Her stomach heaved as she began to spin, putting her arms out to catch herself instinctively and letting out a small, muffled whine of discomfort.

Suddenly, she felt a cool, firm grip close over her wrist and she was pulled swiftly against a sturdy wall of white. Breathing in the scent of fire and ice, her head seemed to clear a bit as she locked her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, her salvation from this misery. Her face buried itself against his neck, desiring to be hidden within the silver, white and red colors that comforted her so. She softly moaned her appreciation with the tiniest noise of ascent in the back of her throat as she felt a set of strong arms close around her lower back, securing her.

The sounds had stopped until all that remained was the lulling '_thump'_ of a heartbeat in her ears encased in otherwise, perfect silence.

Before she could protest, she was drifting right back to sleep, her mind sinking into an oblivion of nothingness as her body once again gave into her exhaustion. Her last thought before unconsciousness was how wonderfully quiet and pleasantly temperatured it had become. She had never been more comfortable in her life.

Midoriko woke to the sound of Kagome's whimpering in the night and cracked an eye lid in concern. Her grandchild tossed and turned against the ground, affected by every sound. So, it had begun. She was coming into her power and by the looks of it, her hearing was going to be the first thing affected. She knew it would become unbearable soon and made to rise herself but was halted before she could move by a hand gently firming against her back, silently suggesting she lay still.

Sapphire eyes pleaded with her mate in question who only smiled knowingly before silently nodding in the direction of the two headed dragon across the fire.

Midoriko obediently followed his gaze to find a very alert Sesshomaru whose sight had frozen on Kagome in obvious concern. She smiled up at her mate in thanks before feigning sleep against him, content that she would be cared for.

A log shifted in the fire rather close to Kagome's head and Midoriko suppressed a smile as she watched Sesshomaru's already fixed attention become even sharper when the girl began breathing erratically, her heart slamming against her chest with fright when she suddenly woke, fearful and confused at the barrage of sensation.

In her mind, she began a countdown, guessing it would not take more than ten seconds.

_'Nine, eight, seven-' _

The wind rushed over the camp in a sudden, rather strong breeze.

_'Six, five, four-' _

She watched as Kagome focused on her senses, only making the sensation worse. A crow called over head and she flinched, clasping her hands to her head.

_'Three, two, one-'_

Sesshomaru rose at Kagome's pitiful whimper to stride purposefully to her side. He caught her right as she made to swoon against the torrents of noise and gathered her against his chest. He felt her discomfort immediately lessen and was relieved and proud that his presence could accomplish such. She settled her delicate little face against his neck and sighed contentedly when he secured her against him. Her moan of appreciation breathed fire into his veins. He pondered the feelings the moment had invoked inside himself and her incredible ability to make such things come to pass.

Her suffering in any was...unacceptable to him, the thought causing him to mentally frown in distaste. Her comfort around him brought feelings of contentment and relief like he'd never known. It was as if he'd been suffering tremendously without ever taking the time to notice before and now that he had, he felt a sense of attainment and capability like he'd never known.

Unwilling to allow her newly-found senses to further inhibit her sleep, he took to the skies, careening across the clouds at light speed while she slept on obliviously.

Midoriko sighed romantically against her mate as he rolled his eyes skyward at her dramatic behavior. Whispering softly so as not to stir attention, he confessed his affliction. "I was given so little time. Now, she's almost mated and she's only known I'm her grandfather for about three days," he reminded her grimly.

Midoriko smiled her understanding and squeezed his hand in support. "You know, I didn't get to see her in this time at all. Think how I must feel. I've had visions and dreams of this grand-child for centuries and I'm only just now meeting her. At least you got to know her through Inuyasha, even withdrawn as you were, at least you got to see her, in the flesh," she sighed exasperatedly. "I've spent all this time, knowing she was right here. That I could walk right up and talk with her. But it couldn't be done. What I would have given to have one, sit down conversation..." she drawled. But the topic between them was not exactly an unfamiliar one and a narrow glance from Totosai seemed to beg her not to go down that path again.

"My love, you know Inuyasha coming into the scene was never apart of your vision. It was an unforeseen element, a twist of fate," he declared with a shrug of his shoulders. "If I had known before that she could have saved him, well, things might have been different. But I had long held the title of sword smith for the Inu-no-Taisho and with that came the disguise of an old, feeble man. You know as well as I that if I hadn't taken on such a countenance, I never would have been entrusted the make Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga. We needed the money, I needed a job to support my new family and it was easier to trust an old man against a young, powerful Godai Inuyoukai. I no more wished to parade around like that than you wanted to keep your distance from our grandchild or to remain an anonymous mate."

Midoriko sighed in acquiesce, her expression playful as she batted her eyes up at him. "Have I ever told you how grateful I am for all that you do for me...?"

Totosai responded by squeezing her softly for emphasis. "Every day mate and every day I remind you that your happiness shapes my heart and with it, my life." They embraced warmly from under the stars before slipping back off to sleep.

Finding a suitable, isolated and extremely difficult to reach area for those of lesser power, Sesshomaru resettled the weight of his intended against him, willing his long, furry boa to wrap around her form against the elements.

He landed gracefully at the mouth of a cave nestled into the very top of a mountain range near the village of Edo, where their companions had set up camp. The distance from the ground made approaching the cave impossible without the means to fly and even then one would have a hard time navigating their way through the various peaks with not a single clue to give as to which one they currently resided in.

He chose this location essentially for its silent attributes. The air was lain with mists from the fading night chill that rolled in dewy clouds against his skin. The horizon was just beginning to purple around the edges of an inky night sky, signaling the fast approaching dawn. He sank against stone tiredly, feeling secure about his surroundings and considering it an appropriate time to let his guard down.

Blinking, he spared a glance at the girl and what he saw caught his gaze and held it there, frozen in an expression of perplexing astonishment. Her eye lashes were lengthening before his eyes to curl upwards as if by magic. They took on a dark luster against her smooth cheeks, thickening slightly.

Her lips darkened in their redness, contrasting the flush, light color of her skin though it had seen more of the sun than his own. Her complexion was tan in stark contrast to his arms around her but before his eyes, that seemed to be changing, slowly lightening shade for shade until her skin almost matched his, identically unmarred and flawless, as if she'd never spent a day in the sun.

Movement out of the corner of his eye shifted his gaze as he watched her ears begin to change shape, their once rounded tops tapering their angles until she possessed a pair like his own, though they retained their petite, feminine form.

One side of his lip curled with restraint, rising to reveal a set of sharp fangs as he snarled a low warning growl, the deep sound reverberating off the walls of the cave. The sudden _thump _of his own heartbeat overpowered the sound of her's for one rhythm as the lines of his vision slowly tinged pink, the red swirling with amber. His aura rose to thrash about their small abode threateningly, rising with the desire to claim his mate and it took an impressive amount of his concentration to subdue the beast within without waking his intended.

He understood entirely why his beast felt so provoked. His mate was transforming before his very eyes into a gorgeous and powerful demoness. He considered her looks to be jaw dropping before but now that fondness was growing into something beyond respect and lust... it was growing into a _need_.

A male Inu was only attracted sexually to one being in his entire life and that was the female he intended to take for a mate. Which was why his younger brother had never taken Kagome in that way, because he never intended to mark her as his own. So, when she had agreed to be _his _in every sense of the word, she had entered into an invisible contract, one that bound them together. And there were certain... side effects to that bond.

The instinct to consummate what had been started between them was a primal, deeply rooted part of his being. It was customary for the female to give the sign that she was ready to mate and until that sign occurred, the male would be forced to wait.

In this, he had to tread carefully. To wait too long could bring the bond in jeopardy but to act too soon could destroy the trust that had grown between them and consequentially, everything else he was working to ensure.

He took great care to keep his beast at bay most of the time but occasionally in times like these, it became even more difficult than ever. While he had no doubts that Kagome could handle his other side, he had no desire to have her first experience be with a mindless, cruel being. If he lost control at this point, his beast would not waste any time before ripping her clothes off and making her his then and there. Her first coupling would be brutal and painful and he did not wish to see her suffer. He wanted to see her writhing beneath him, moaning in pleasure...

He rested against the cave wall with her body between his legs, her back against his chest. Pressed against him as she was presented a challenge Sesshomaru was not used to resisting, seeing as how he had never attached such intense feelings of attraction to another creature. One logical side of him argued the various down sides to taking her there and then while the other reminded him that Sesshomaru, Lord of the West, always got what he wanted and he wanted her like he'd never known he could want anything before.

His arms wrapped around her stomach, situating her light body across his knees so that her face rested at the junction of his neck and shoulder. Long, slim legs were draped lightly across his lap, bending at the knee to his right side. The tiniest, most delicate hand had clasped steadfastly to the outer fold of his horai in her sleep as if she feared he might depart from her.

The barest hint of a smile flitted across his serious face, fracturing the look of a cold blooded killer with a tiny glimpse into the carefully concealed warmth of his heart as he lovingly reveled in the subconscious language her body displayed to him in her sleep. She breathed in his scent and her heart slammed against her chest urgently as she recognized who had her.

When his claws ghosted across her skin or his arms tightened a fraction, she would moan softly her heady compliance. It spoke of her trust and desire for him, her loyalty running deeper and stronger than all the waters of all the vast oceans in the world.

Her devotion to him was staggering. It made him feel powerful, like tapping into a bottomless fount of reserved energy, locked within his person. The more he acknowledged about his feelings toward his intended, the more power he seemed to liberate from inner confines to flow unheeded through out his entire being, merging with his aura and jaki. He struggled inwardly with the new feeling, though he would never allow any sign of such distress to cross his blank features.

His own powers were undergoing their own transformation as he patiently endured the power surge he felt while his beast continued to scream the importance of comforting them both by consummating their bond, marring his concentration.

But the snarls and demands of his beast could be ignored; the supple curves of the woman smelling of honeysuckle blooms and thunderstorms in his arms could not and served as the main distraction deterring him from his goal. The sweet honeysuckle scent began to dominate the room with her silent arousal. The energy boost he attained from that revelation was the last fracture of his control.

While his boa carefully moved to support her against him, his hands slid up and down her sides, memorizing the curve of her hips as they descended to her thighs, the feminine contour of her flesh as his palms continued to slide up until they nearly breached the pit of her arms.

His fingers stopped there and ventured in another direction to climb softly up the arch of her breasts. He grasped the mounds firmly in both hands over her white horai, marveling at their weight and fullness, his knuckles kneading the soft flesh appreciatively as he buried his face in her neck, fastening his lips to her clavicle and began massaging her soft skin with his tongue. The sweet taste of her filled his mouth and he lapped at it hungrily, starved, his left hand fisting into the hair on the back of her head while his other continued to clasp her left breast with increasing urgency.

His hands continued their exploring to languidly slide down the expanse of her belly, every inch conquered bringing him further and further to the point of no return. They dipped into the depression of her toned stomach, memorizing every inch, curve and delicious contour of muscled, immaculate flesh. They rose slowly back up the planes of her chest, delving between the folds of her horai as his naked fingers snaked across the soft skin of her breast.

The sounds of a moan rang against his being as he pulled away to meet twin sapphire orbs staring back at him dazedly. Her lower lip was worried between her teeth as her cheeks flushed crimson, filling him with amusement and pride. He could feel her heated core pulsating against him, her heartbeat rising as her body permitted her blood to rush south.

Kagome had awoken to the force of a powerful _need_. Her senses were filled with everything _Sesshomaru_, from the white of his silk attire to the silver of his hair, the silk fur of his boa winding seductively and soft against her most sensitive parts, to the amber of his eyes now staring into her with an amorous desire that made her shiver with longing.

The scent of fire and ice permeated her senses, articulated in that sharp way and she was instantly reminded of the last time she had felt this, when he'd come to escort her from the well. His aura lapped against her's invitingly. It seemed to say, _'Feel how strong I am, trust in me, I will protect you, I am your mate, you will be mine,' _and the combined effect of his ministrations left her feeling a yearning like she'd never known. Her heart soared while her body and nerves alighted in absolute bliss, begging her acquiescence.

Her knees felt suddenly uncomfortable at such an odd angle against his lap, so she shifted slightly, only to blush madly with want as his knee surged between her legs to brush against her sex, taking her open invitation with a swift execution. Her knees twitched, weakening to the assault and even widening a fraction.

She was now stradling Sesshomaru, his boa still wrapped around them both, securing them tightly against one another while his hands ran the length of her delicate back.

His expression, however, gave no inclination of the sort, only his eyes as they fixed, narrowed and softened with expectancy spoke for him and Kagome felt her body responding in a kind of primal language she was not aware she understood until now. Her own need arose, demanding to be satiated and her body told him what her lips could not.

She looked up and the thrill of anticipation that went through his person at her expression was instant and tangible. She rose to her knees as his hand grasped her's in silent question. Her look was molten with want as her blue hakamas spread. In one tiny, seemingly insignificant move, her knees opened to straddle his torso. She collapsed against his chest, her breasts pressing against him as her hips rose instinctively, reaching out to impact with the tip of his manhood.

A feminine gasp of shock followed by a throaty moan of want resounded as he felt her arc her back against him despite the spike of fear that came with the revelation of his size.

Sesshomaru thundered a low growl, his eyes tinting slightly with red again as his hands wound around the back of her knees, grasping her inner thighs right below the flesh of her posterior cheeks, his claws grazing the skin around her sex over the blue fabric of her hakamas.

He pushed and pulled, lulling her hips into a rhythm against him as his lips found her's.

A building, rushing sensation made her dizzy, to the point that she couldn't get _enough_. The desperation she felt at wanting **more **so badly was alien to her and she cried out against it, begging him, the tears standing in her eyes like diamonds. And then there it was, one word that broke his restraint, torn from her throat like a siren's cry: _"Please."_

He slipped from behind her in a deft, precise move that did nothing to unsettle her, while his furry appendage fluffed itself from behind into a make-shift pallet. He gently guided her to lay against it and she fell back trustingly, following Sesshomaru's gentle, guiding hand, landing against a warm, soft blanket that encased her protectively from the ground.

The august sunlight of his eyes never left her's as his hands found the knot of her horai, his claws pulling slowly at the string.

She felt the ties loosening around her as he gazed at her so pointedly and found her nipples hardening at the thought. With a slight release and swoosh of fabric, she felt her skin plunge into the night air and watched with interest as Sesshomaru's eyes lowered and hesitated on her form before dipping his head to take one hardened peak into his hot mouth. He softly rolled the bud against his tongue, using his fangs to lightly graze the top of one mound as she rose to the occasion desperately, mewling her appreciation in gasps and soft moans.

After tending the other breast, he pulled away and she hissed her displeasure at his absence, scowling.

A single digit tipped with a deadly claw settled beneath her chin to urge it upwards, trapping her once again in the wake of those amber orbs. She lost herself gladly, feeling the last vestiges of all possible refusals snap any conviction she might have summoned to protest. Her body, soul and spirit yearned, urging her to become closer to him, to open herself to him.

His expression had softened as his deep baritone voice confessed, "You reach the point of no return, koi. Do you still wish to continue?" His eyes hardened slightly and her heart ached for the way he prepared for the blow of her rejection. She never wished to see such a guarded look in his eyes regarding her again.

She lifted up and pressed her lips against his, pouring everything she had into it. His tongue swept into her mouth with passionate abandon as he graciously explored what she offered him. He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and softly grazed it with his fangs as her fingers threaded through his hair, running along his scalp to show her appreciation.

His hands were pulling on the strings to her hakama, the blue fabric disappearing behind him. She had no time to feel self conscious before he was parting her thighs, the molten look of desire in his gaze compelling her arousal to spike painfully.

She watched him as his face descended to her sex, his eyes never leaving her's as his mouth captured her labia in his, his tongue colliding with the sensitive bundle of nerves to stroke it slowly in light, teasing strokes.

Her knees twitched, trying to close against the pronounced, newborn sensation as his hands held them steadfastly apart, his pace picking up to coerce her hips to buck against his face, begging, pleading for more. Her fingers grasped the fur beneath her as he continued to lap up her essence.

Her taste was everything he'd imagined and more. Sweet and fresh, like the nectar of a flower, he savored every stroke as his hands slid down her inner thighs, stroking around the flesh of her entrance. His claws lightly drug across her buttocks to circle again around her thighs and back down to the tiny gap of her now-glistening flower.

She cried out, wanting those fingers to touch her there, to plunge deep into her, but he kept refusing to do it, his fingers sliding away at the last moment just when she thought he might as his tongue swirled around her bud. It was maddening and the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to her.

"Sess-ah-homaru," she managed to plead between moans, his own body reacting with every rise of her hips. The sounds of pleasure falling from her lips was like music to his ears and her scent and aura only enticed him further as they grew stronger on the air. Her panting reached a rhythm he approved and he allowed one, single digit to begin swirling at her entrance in light, soft circles, refusing to allow any further penetration and dismissing her attempts to thrust into his hands by placing a single hand over her stomach to hold her down.

The tip of his finger felt her walls begin to constrict and entered her suddenly, causing her to cry out with pleasure and sending her straight over the edge to a swift release.

Sesshomaru smirked as he withdrew his finger to bring it to his lips where his tongue cleaned it eagerly of her juices. He then stood and, looking down at her heatedly, began to disrobe.

Kagome felt her mind slowly steadying after her first orgasm began to wind down and opened her eyes to see Sesshomaru standing there, pulling the ties to his yellow obi free. Her cheeks reddened instantly but her eyes remained glued to his form, her heart slamming against her chest with such a velocity that there was no denying her blatant anticipation. White silk rustled in the air as it was cast to the ground, revealing an Adonis-sculpted chest of creamy ivory. His skin and hair seemed to glow with a luminous light against the darkness of the cave as sapphire eyes traversed his body hungrily, drinking in the sight of his maroon stripes that curved over his hips, still obscured by the low cut of his white, silk hakamas.

A set of pale, masculine hands fixed over the strings and Kagome felt her eyes grow dim, blurred by the amount of desire she was feeling. His pants were cast away and she felt her jaw fall open as she stared openly at his beautiful markings that seemed to point towards the base of a large, engorged member, protruding from a mass of silver curls.

He settled himself between her legs, positioning the head of his manhood at her entrance and slowly moving it in circles to ensure his head was adequately moistened in her essence. Her legs wound around the back of his knees, instinctively pulling him closer as he fought her attempts to bring him in too soon.

"Ohhhh, Sesshomaru, make me your's, your's alone," she whispered desperately and he drank in the expression of her desire like water to a mortal dying of thirst before thrusting deeply inside.

Her fingers, having locked onto his shoulders in that instant, clawed at his flesh and he growled low when he felt her newborn claws threaten to shred his skin. The sound reverberated through her at their joining and she moaned her appreciation, loosening her grip when the pain instantly subsided. He slowly withdrew, paused, and filled her again and then again, until her breathing became hard and labored.

He picked up the pace, thrusting all the way in now to fill her depths completely, his cock reveling in the feeling of her walls closing tightly around him. The blood of her virginity mixed with her natural juices, creating a copper scent on the air and giving him the moisture needed to thrust unhindered into her waiting sheath.

Her feet kicked off the ground, felt as her hips sharply bucked into him savagely, as her moans turned into screams of bliss. His manhood surged inside her, taking her with a ruthless abandon and she surrendered gratefully, awed by his strength, power and desire to have her, to claim her, to make her _his_.

Their auras rose from their bodies in two swirling, hazy walls of midnight blue and acid-green mists. Dimly she noticed that it was not her miko power's answering to this call but something else entirely as a dark blue aura rose from her body to meet his own green one as he increased the rhythm. The colors merged together to become a beautiful shade of blue-green, her wet, hot walls clenched around his manhood like an iron fist, bringing them both closer to their release.

She peaked and cried out as her orgasm ripped across her body from head to toe in paralyzing, wonderful waves as her womb opened to him. His beast sensing this, Sesshomaru snarled, slamming into her opening now with a need and force that couldn't be helped. They peaked, she came around him hard as his hot seed filled her to the brim while their auras collided to wrap and twist, tangling against each other to the point of never becoming separated again.

He fell against her panting, supporting himself with his hands on each side of them to avoid crushing her against his weight. Her fingers found his hair and using both hands, cleared the strands that had fallen into his face and tucked them behind his pointed, elven ears. He looked up at her and she smiled a breathtaking, affectionate smile that warmed him to his core.

His lips found her's and she moaned as he withdrew to lay at her side languidly. An arm snaked around her shoulders, pulling her naked form to lay against his chest and she complied without complaint, resting her cheek against his pectoral. She listened closely to the low thrum of his heartbeat as it began to slow while her own body slowly throbbed from their previous actions. She felt whole and content, adoring the way his arm rested against her back to stroke tiny, affectionate circles against her spine. She nuzzled her face closer against his neck and sighed contentedly as the sound of his heartbeat once again lulled her to sleep.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	26. Kaede Snaps

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Miroku awoke to the quiet chill of dawn. His gaze quickly moved over the two slayer siblings, hesitating on the serene expression Sango wore in sleep and the way she had one arm draped protectively across her brother's shoulders. Kilala slept on next to Kohaku's head, purring softly.

Midoriko and Totosai slept on the other side of the fire on their sides, Kaede not far behind them while Shippo was curled up in Kagome's sleeping bag, minus the Kagome. Miroku spotted Inuyasha sleeping over head in a nearby tree but did not find Sesshomaru, though his dragon slept near the trees with Rin and Jaken against him.

This was a more than a little interesting piece of information. Kagome and Sesshomaru, off alone somewhere...whatever could become of _that_? A lecherous grin spread across his face at the thought. His smile only fell at the more ominous thought of how Inuyasha would take to this information. Even though he and Kagome had not been considered an 'item' in quite some time even after the whole Kikyo debacle had finally ended, he knew the hard-headed hanyou well enough to know that he could be quite possessive at times as well as overly protective.

He would have to be sure he was available to witness the ensuing aftermath of Inuyasha's rather brash and insulting way of dealing with conflict when it was both Kagome AND Sesshomaru's temper he was up against. That was going to be quite the show.

After relieving himself, he collected kindling and firewood to restart the glowing embers of the fire from the night before. As it came to life, he fetched water from the river for tea and coffee. Just as the kettle began to boil, so did the rest of the tachi slowly begin rolling out from their sleeping places to relieve themselves and change.

It was only as everyone was finally awake and moving around that Miroku realized just how much larger their tachi had become. They had their usual six, plus Sesshomaru, Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un, along with now Midoriko, Totosai and the Ox, and finally Kohaku and Kaede. Raising his eyebrows as he calculated how much more food they were going to need a daily basis, he sighed. Perhaps Sesshomaru could be persuaded to assist in the hunting... Between him and Inuyasha, he could probably keep them all fed pretty easily.

Miroku passed around the smoked deer meat they had remaining for breakfast and prepared a kettle for tea and coffee. He even took the liberty of grabbing the explosive milk powder from Kagome's bag while he was fetching the filters and coffee, and he set it out for the others to find should they want it.

Sango woke, stretched and then gently shook her brother awake. He awoke much calmer than before, though his gaze was wide and full of pain as he focused on his sister's face.

"Ane-we..." he began, his eyes filled with tears and she shushed him. "Why don't we go somewhere and talk?" she suggested quietly, leading him by the hand from camp towards the trees at his nod of agreement.

"Wait, wait," Miroku halted them. "Tea or coffee?"

Sango blinked. "Umm, tea for Kohaku, I think. Coffee for me. Thank you, Miroku."

Miroku smiled as he prepared the cups and passed them carefully to each recipient before bowing low. "Anything for my most favored lady," he teased with a light-hearted wink and Sango felt the weight of their situation lesson on her shoulders. She smiled warmly in thanks and he merely nodded his understanding as the two passed him by to disappear into the tree line.

As silence began to fill the clearing in their wake, Inuyasha was the first to point out the obvious. "Where in the hell are Kagome and Sesshomaru?"

There was a slightly pregnant pause in which anyone who knew anything about the situation tried to look as if they _didn't _know anything while those who really had no idea scanned the others for the face of someone who _did_.

It was Midoriko who answered the awkward and somewhat confused silence that followed the question. "I believe that some time late last night or early this morning, rather, Kagome began her transformation."

There was a collective gasp from around the fire. Rin and Shippo shared an adorably significant look before returning their attention to Kagome's grandmother.

Miroku fumbled for a coherent response. "L-lady Midoriko, are you saying that the lady Kagome is now a demon?" Her answering laugh was full of warmth and amusement.

"The change will be a some what gradual process at first. All the senses are heightened explicitly, hearing, vision, sensation. The only psychical changes are relatively small. The hair might grow longer, or the eye lashes, the lips become fuller, cheek bones more pronounced, little things. Her ears, for instance, will probably grow out to a point like your brother's within the next day or so.

"The fangs are the beginning of the real changes, though. As they emerge, so does her jaki and aura begin to weaken their spiritual barrier. Eventually, the barrier will break altogether, bringing with it her markings, claws, and poisons but this slow process is essential to her safety. You have to walk before you run, you know?"

Inuyasha nodded, his arms still across his chest defensively. "In other words, if the barrier broke before weakening and getting her used to the changes gradually, it could kill her."

"Precisely that," Midoriko beamed sweetly. "She awoke while the rest of you slept hindered by all the sounds she could hear, all the auras she could sense and smell and all the things she could see. Sesshomaru's scent was enough to calm her, however. It was someone she recognized and trusted."

_'Trusted.' _The word rang through his being like a tolling bell of guilt. Swallowing back the bitter tang of jealousy, Inuyasha forced his face into a relieved expression. "So, she's being taken care of," he tried to surmise indifferently, striving to appear consoled by the information. The revelation that she was safer with Sesshomaru was a little too much for his pride to take.

Midoriko's expression was sympathetic. "I believe he took her somewhere isolated to better teach her control. It's what I would have done were it my task to teach her," she conceded with a light shrug of her shoulders.

_'Isolated, keh, even better,' _Inuyasha grumbled to himself, trying to halt the mental images the comment provoked. At his look of hurt, he suddenly found himself knocked off the log next to Midoriko and sprawled out in the grass, his chest throbbing.

A furious set of lavender eyes infused with specks of amber glared at him through strands of lilac silver hair. Hands placed decidedly on her hips, displaying her pearlescent claws in a very good impression of Kagome when she was angry, Kaede stomped over until she towered over the hanyou and then bent down until they were face to face. Her usually dark purple markings darkened even further in caution. Her words, though barely a whisper, seemed to scream in his mind. "Don't. You. **Dare **feel sorry for yourself," she hissed, her lips curling back to reveal a set of deadly-sharp fangs.

Inuyasha gulped. "Feel sorry for myself? Why would I do that?"

Midoriko cleared her throat. "Kaede, know your place. Inuyasha, sit here with me, why don't you-"

"_Why _would you?" Kaede interrupted, ignoring her grandmother. "It's all you EVER do, sit up in some tree, sulking and feeling sorry for yourself-"

"KAEDE HIGURASHI, remember your manners!" Midoriko scolded, shocked at the sudden outburst from her normally well contained grand-daughter.

At her worried proclamation, Totosai went to intervene for his mate. "You two stop squabbling and do as she says. Inuyasha, sit! Kaede, heel!"

A feral grin broke out on Kaede's face. "Don't make this about _you_, is that asking too much? She is _finally _over you after years of heartache watching you flip between her and Kikyo. Now that she's finally found someone to make her happy, I will **not **tolerate your pitiful 'feel sorry' for me attitude dragging everyone down. Kagome deserves this happiness. Need and I remind you that she and Kikyo are _both _my sisters? Do you know what it's like, to watch the same guy court first your older sister and then your youngest? To not even be able to _say _anything about it when you break her heart over and over again?" The last was pronounced in a shrill volume that displayed her rage as she pointed at him, translucent claws glinting in the sun.

As she spun on her heel, turning her back on him, one of her many braids whipped him hard across the face. Her movements belied the anger she had demonstrated as she reclaimed her previous seat by the fire and sipped her tea mildly as if nothing at all had occurred.

Fortunately, Rin and Shippo had taken to their coloring books and only really noticed the adults arguing when Midoriko interjected. By the time Kaede had delivered her final reply it was over and the kids went back to their coloring as everyone else also carried on as if nothing had happened.

The rings on Miroku's staff jingled merrily as he shook with amusement, trying to contain himself at the look of consternation and fear on Inuyasha's face. Totosai gave him a stern look of reprimand and the monk fought to contain himself, he truly did, but he could not fight the grin that stretched the corners of his mouth. He kept his head down in a valiant attempt at masking his jubilation but it was not enough to fool Inuyasha as he passed, his ears flattened to the sides of his head.

As he noticed Miroku's dilemma, the ears shot up straight while his fist simultaneously connected with his head. Miroku was still grinning even as he hit the ground, nursing a fat lip.

Inuyasha could be heard muttering something about stupid hentai monks as he leapt into a nearby tree, climbing to the very top of its branches before settling against the trunk irritably.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	27. Forgiveness

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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Sango and Kohaku sat next to the river, content to simply absorb the natural beauty of the view and the serenity the sound of the water passing over the stones invoked as they sipped the hot drinks Miroku had prepared them and reflected.

For a long time, neither spoke, the sounds of the wind whispering through the trees and the river the only sounds between them, and it was enough. It was warm, beautiful, peaceful. Butterflies ghosted above the surface of the water. Birds called overhead. The breeze was soft and gentle, as if it knew how significant the moment was for both of them and sought to encourage and comfort in its own way.

It was enough to just sit there together with her, to _have _that. When was the last time they'd had this? When was the last time they'd had the chance to just sit together in this way, where he knew who she was without wanting to kill himself and she was not distracted with fighting for her life?

She sat with her feet stretched out before her in the water, gazing out in front of her without direction or focus. He sat slightly above her and to the side on a protruding boulder, cross legged.

Sango felt so content to have her little brother, healthy and alive, sitting next to her safe and sound, that it didn't matter to her if they spoke at all. His quiet voice, nearly a whisper, broke her away from her reverie.

"Is it hard?" He kept his head down, his gaze pinned to the water in front of him.

"Is what hard?"

"Seeing me. Is it hard seeing me after what I've done?"

"No," she answered truthfully without hesitation and a shake of her head. Her expression was calm and pondering, as if it were something she had previously given a great deal of thought. "No, it's not hard seeing you. It's hard _not _seeing you. Not knowing you or talking to you. Not being recognized by you, _that's _hard," she confessed, feeling her eyes burn with the admittance. "I am relieved beyond measure, over joyed, thrilled, hopeful..." she trailed off suggestively.

His shoulders sagged, his face hidden from view by a set of almond colored, shaggy bangs. He remained silent and at the sound of a sniffle she understood why. His voice was tight with constriction when next he spoke. "I've done...h-horrible things..." he stammered between sobs, his body racked with tremors as if each memory struck him a psychical blow. His father and comrades slain. Woman and children slaughtered. Villages massacred. Bodies desecrated. Blood shed. No control, not even for the little girls begging him to stop. Not even for the pregnant mother shielding her children. Not even for the new born babe still in the cradle.

He jumped as her arm snaked across his shoulders, pulling him close until his head touched her's. The gesture was full of nostalgia, something she'd done since they were little children growing up. It was such a casual thing, something she'd done a thousand times, an embrace they shared on many occasions. But it was one he had not felt in such a long time that the familiarity of the moment was enough to snap his control.

He wept, sobbed, wailed against her and she cried as well, cried for the cruel twist of fate they had been dealt in life, cried for their lost parents, cried for all the years he lived and killed without control, without memory of his only living sister even when she stood before him, cried for all the people he had killed and all the memories that haunted him even now, cried because neither of them knew if he would survive without the jewel shard, if they would both make it through the final battle, cried because she didn't know if he would _want _to go on living in the event that he did, somehow, survive.

They both sobbed until they were a sniffling, hiccuping mess on the forest floor, until their eyes were bloodshot, their cups abandoned on the rocks, their cheeks reddened and raw, until both of their lungs hurt from the effort and still they let the tears come unbidden.

"Do I..." he sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, "Do I d-deserve to l-ive?"

Sango felt her brow knit in sympathy, her heart aching in her chest. "Ofcourse you do, silly," she teased lightly, "You're my little brother. You are not responsible for what happened to those people. Kohaku would never do that. Naraku would. Their blood is on his hands, not your's."

He nodded slowly, processing her words. "He has to die for this."

Sango smiled sincerely at that. "He will. I love you, Kohaku."

"I love you, Sango."

They embraced once more by the river before slowly making their way back to camp. The tension between them was gone, replaced with a casual comfort that only a relationship with a sibling can bring.

Sango knew he would always carry the dark memories of what he had done with him. That was just the type of person her brother was. Despite knowing himself innocent, he still allowed himself to feel partially responsible for what happened when he was out of control because he _remembered _doing them. He was a good person with a good heart, always had been. The trick now was to make him realize how many people he had that loved him and wanted him around.

Most of all, he had to know that she still loved and accepted him after all that had been through and it was starting to look as if perhaps that would be enough.

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**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	28. The Bonds of Tradition

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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**AN: Lemon ahead. Oh, am I too late? My bad. ^.^ I sincerely hope you were corrupted. ; )**_  
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The coppery scent of her broken virginity lingered faintly in the small cavern in which they lay, nestled high within a tall, snow-capped mountain range. She lay fast asleep on her side with his right arm draped over her small stomach, holding her fast against his chest.

A gust of cold wind blew through the cavern entrance. The boa he used to contain the remainder of his aura in human form expanded around his mate's tiny body, protecting her from the icy chill. Sunlight had begun to spill into the darkness of the cave, leaving shining, warm beams of light to slowly climb their way across the floor and air to where they lay together.

Honeycomb eyes drank in her appearance, memorizing the way it felt to have her naked body pressed warmly against his bare chest, the way her feet sought to press against his own, the way her spine arced, pressing her bottom against his lap and encasing him closer to her warmth. The sunlight sparkled near her toes and he eyed a strange, sparkling-silver paint brushed across her tiny toenails. _'Interesting.'_

Such a tiny, fragile thing and yet, underneath the surface of her unmarred, smooth skin existed such a strength as he'd never felt, such a will as he'd never known and such love as he never knew existed, was capable of between one creature to the next.

His fangs gave a low throb as a rumble sounded deep within him. He closed his eyes against the urge to mark her, against the powerful inclination he had to sink his teeth into the flesh of her neck, to taste that sweet blood that sung through her veins, making her his forever...

Their souls were bound together but he had given pause to the final act in order to protect her. She had only just begun the first of her transformation, the imperative and essential slow exposure to her own aura. This was an extremely delicate process, one that if thwarted could end her life. If he were to complete their mating by giving her his mark, the surge of youkai that would enter that bond and consequentially, enter _her_, would break the holy barrier holding back her own aura. It would flood into her system like a river, instantly transforming her. The shock of it would be too much to take and either she would die immediately or go slowly insane.

Resisting like this was not a challenge he was used to. Unlike a battle of wills, in which he would relish the challenge, this particular brand of temptation applied to every facet of his being. His fangs throbbed, his aura thrashed, his eyes drank in the perfection of her flesh and contours, his nose breathed in her scent, his beast snarled he take her completely.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed against her. The scent of Honeysuckle and thunderstorms once again invaded his senses, tinged with the scent of her virgin blood. He would not put his mate in danger in order to satiate this need. He recalled with satisfaction the look on her face when he entered her fully, remembered the sensation of her new claws piercing the flesh of his back and slicing outwards. The four wavy scratch marks on each of his shoulders remained as brilliant as the moment they had come into existence. Only now, they were a deep, sapphire blue, matching the color of the crescent on his brow. It was _her _mark, whether she realized it or not and it would last forever. _She _had marked _him_ and he was anxious to return the favor.

He could feel it tingling as he rested against the cold stone of the cave, tingling with her power and their connection. How he longed to merge his aura with her's by bestowing his own mark, to sink his teeth into that delicate neck...

But it would not be done, not until her transformation was complete. He was honor bound to see it so and even the beast within him understood this logic, at least.

As deftly as he was capable, he slowly backed away from her enticing form, making not even the slightest sound as he sought for and equipped his attire, strewn out across the ground as it was. He slipped on his horai and hakamas, tying on the traditional yellow obi bearing the colors of of the West. He'd left his armor back at camp, safe in one of Ah-Un's saddle bags.

Once properly attired, he knelt at his mate's feet, gently parting her thighs as he did so. His boa moved at his will, obediently exposing her sex to his field of view. His face descended, feasting on the blood of her virginity and gently lapping at her thighs and pubis in order to clean every drop from her skin. Once the exterior had been properly cleaned, he parted her nether lips, dipping his tongue as deeply as it would go. His saliva healed any wounds as it soothed the ache from their coupling, as well as cleaned her thoroughly both inside and out.

It was both his privilege and responsibility to properly groom his mate, to tend to her every need. He would see to it that every wound was nursed properly, that she attained all the intimacy and affection she could ever care for. That and the taste of her blood was simply too intoxicating to resist.

The woman before him would be the most revered demoness in demonic society, if not because she was mated to him, because she would be a powerful taiyoukai or even rarer than that, because of her species. Godai Inuyoukais were incredibly rare and powerful, revered for both their elemental abilities, holy power and the Inu traits passed down their line.

He was proud, however, that his interest in this onna began long before he had any idea of her true nature. Proud because it meant he truly respected her for who she was, loved her for who she was...

_Love. _He never thought he would use that word to describe the feelings he had for anything or one. He had never even graced the possibility that he was capable of such...compassion and concern. Rin had been the first creature since his parents to invoke such emotions in him, though they were on a different level from what he felt compared to Kagome. His feelings towards his ward were of a different nature altogether when he thought about it. It ranged closer to the affection one has for their child, such was their relationship.

He knew that Kagome had adopted a demon child of her own. It was odd, when he considered it. He, a full demon, adopting a human ward and she, formally mortal, adopting a full demon... A slight tugging sensation in his chest alerted him to the pull he felt towards his mate and the overwhelming pride he had for her warm, maternal nature. He could not wait to complete their bonding and start the seclusion period with her, locked in his bedchamber...

A throaty moan followed by a tiny, soft hand pushing through his locks alerted him to her wakening state. He continued to lap at her nether lips softly, content to simply taste the honeysuckle and rainstorm scent she carried. Her arousal spiked in the air as her sex swelled against his tongue appreciatively.

"Oh, Sesshomaru," she panted, her nipples hardening against the onslaught of his boa, who began slowly winding up and down her form, the soft fur tickling her nipples and belly as it went along.

Kagome awoke to the wonderful sensation of her mate lapping eagerly at her most sensitive of places. Despite the surge of modesty she felt, she could not bring herself to resist him. For one, it felt so magnificently wonderful she couldn't move but it was also the expression he had on his face, a look of complete contentment. He was _enjoying _himself!

His lids were at half mass, peering at her sex now and then as he thoroughly cleaned her womanhood from top to bottom.

She moaned as she felt her body reacting, catching his molten gaze as it traversed her form languidly before landing on her eyes. She whispered his name and felt him pull away. A pitiful groan of disapproval was torn from her throat by the loss of contact, following a very uncharacteristic growl which even she was not expecting.

Catching her wide stare of surprise and the way her hand flew up adorably to cover her mouth, Sesshomaru did something very uncharacteristic as well: He laughed.

Kagome felt her jaw fall open at the sound, at the sight of the casual smile that adorned his face, revealing a dazzling set of fangs. He had a deep and booming laugh that nearly shook the ground. She felt it in her chest and when he locked eyes with her, she thought she'd never seen his expression so warm and jovial.

He bent over her slowly, until their foreheads were touching softly and his hair fanned around their faces like a silver curtain of silk. "You put a spell on this Sesshomaru, miko," he teased, sounding utterly serious with his accusation.

Kagome was onto him, though, catching the playful look in his eyes. She stuck her bottom lip out in a fake pout, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. Batting her lashes, she said, "Now Sesshomaru, I am not a witch, how can I have put a spell on you?"

He answered without hesitation. "Because I am most definitely and completely in love with you."

Her pretend-hurt expression evaporated, replaced with a softening of her eyes and a slight furrowing of her brow. His lips met her's and she rose to the occasion eagerly, loving the sensation of his claws running through her hair. They ghosted over the tips of her now-elven ears, ran the length of her neck and shoulders until they were sliding over the top of her breasts, lingering on her nipples to knead the soft flesh slowly and appreciatively.

Trusting her instincts, Kagome rolled over on her belly and onto her knees before bending at the waist in front of him until her face was against the stone.

Sesshomaru felt his eyes widen in astonishment at the sight of his mate presenting herself to him. It was an Inu tradition, known by instinct alone, to do such a thing for one's mate. It was both an act of submission, to show their appreciation and to offer themselves officially for the taking. That Kagome was in touch with her Inu instinct enough to discern them and act on them suggested she was moving quite swiftly through her transformation.

Wasting no time, he positioned himself behind her, unable to resist the sight of her womanhood, moist from their previous actions. His manhood throbbed, demanding sedition as he positioned himself at her entrance.

His rhythm started out slow, moving at a very shallow depth that gradually picked up into long, deep strokes that had her crying out each time he fully entered her. The muscles of her sex contracted to the point of blood loss. Her tight, virginal passage held fast to his manhood as it surged into her over and over, the pace picking up as he could not deny her body's demands.

Kagome felt his hands firm on her hips as his manhood swelled to an even bigger size, breaching her walls. A low, rumbling growl snarled above her as his hands cleaved to her hips, suddenly slamming at a very fast pace into her waiting, dripping sheath. His claws pierced the skin on her hip but she was numb to the sensation as her walls began to clench with the beginnings of a climax.

The growls began to deepen into savage grunts as she suddenly felt a surge of warmth begin to pour into her, like hot water spurting into the deepest part of her sex. Sapphire eyes widened as she realized with a moan what was happening and it sent her spiraling over the edge. Even as the last waves of her orgasm crashed over her, the hot, spurting sensation continued to pour into her as Sesshomaru slowly came down from his own climax, panting and sweating until they both fell forward. He pulled her against him until she lay with her face pressed against his chest, one arm wrapped around her back as his boa wound around them both. They panted for air, slowly coming down from their sexual high together.

The stone was cold beneath their skin and Kagome thought it a great relief to the sweltering heat she was suddenly enduring. Opening her eyes, she was gifted with the sight of his immaculate, Adonis-sculpted chest, thinking that she had never thought she would find sweat attractive until that moment. Never had a man looked or smelled so good to her. His pale skin glowed in the sunlight spilling from the mouth of the cave and she breathed him in, loving his scent.

Sesshomaru watched her turn her head into him and take a long, pleasurable scent and tried to smother the swell of male pride that resulted. Her head was nearly against his chin and he breathed in the scent of her hair. His eyes opened at the smell of her blood and he sat up carefully, supporting her as she sat up with him, her gaze questioning.

He lifted both her hands before spying the claw marks on her hips. His expression turned to one of mild disapproval as he bent, closing his mouth over one side of her hip and lathing the area with his tongue. His saliva sealed the wound and he continued with his ministrations on her other hip until both sides were completely healed.

Looking up, he found her blushing red. "Th-thank you," she stammered shyly. He answered by taking her lips against his briefly before rising. He strode across the room and picked up a bundle of blue and white fabric which she recognized as her own attire. He handed it over and she stood, accepting it gratefully before carefully unwrapping his boa from her body and handing it over.

Sesshomaru took his boa and positioned it across his shoulder. It now carried her scent strongly and he breathed it in momentarily as he watched her dress. His face had fallen back into a mask of indifference, but when Kagome looked up from dressing now and then she caught the spark in his eyes as he followed her every movement.

Once she was completely dressed, he turned to pick up his own clothes and that's when she saw it. "Oh my god, Sesshomaru, your back!" she cried, racing over to him and putting her hands over the blue scratch marks. "I did this?" she asked worriedly.

Sesshomaru turned and took her hands in his own. "Your mark," he provided her simply.

Kagome let the words ring in her head for a minute before understanding finally dawned. "My...mating mark?" she inquired carefully.

He nodded, confirming her suspicions. "But...how?" she trailed off confusedly. "I don't remember doing anything like that..."

"Maybe so. But it was done, all the same."

She gulped. "Is that...ok?" she asked uncertainly, worried that he might take offense.

He huffed lightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way, koi," he confessed, pushing her bangs lightly out of her eyes and tucking a strand of onyx behind her ear. "I would have given you my mark as well would it not have jeopardized your health."

Her mouth formed the word 'Oh' and he chuckled at her reaction. She felt as she was pulled by her arms and collided with his chest. Muscled biceps flexed against her back as he held her close, one hand on the back of her head, as if she were a precious thing that deserved to be cherished. Her eyes misted over as she understood what he was trying to show her. He wanted her to understand how much he needed her, cared for her and just how much she meant to him. She relaxed in the circle of his arms, feeling safe, secure and for once, completely sure that someone loved her.

"Sesshomaru?" she asked against him quietly.

"Hn," he answered and she felt his voice thrum through his chest. "I love you, too," she answered, looking up at him.

Amber eyes softened in answer as he took her lips in a soft, intimate kiss. They stood that way for several moments before he slowly pulled away, but took her hand in his as a consolation in silent understanding of her newborn need to be close to him, to be touching him. "Come, we must bathe before meeting with the others."

The word was like music to her ears. The thought of a bath made her perk up instantly. She smiled at him coyly. "You and I are going to get along just fine."

His lips turned up into a light, amused smile. "Indeed."

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	29. Alex Mac?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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After a brief flying trip, Sesshomaru arrived at a suitable hot spring. He carefully set Kagome on her feet near a sandy bank as his boa was gently disengaged from her form. Amber eyes filled with warm amusement regarded her as she sighed dreamily at the sight of a steaming, large pool of sparkling water at the base of the mountain. River stones speckled the sandy bank, their surfaces smooth and glossy from the steady current and the soles of her feet threatened to slip as she made tiny steps towards the water.

Her eyes felt sore and achy, as if she'd spent the entire day staring at a high vaulted ceiling or in an Imax theater. Trying to focus on a certain point, like a rock in the distance, seemed to bring that rock right before her eyes until it was all she could see. Her proportions were thrown off and she blinked as she felt her head getting dizzy. In order to stave her sense of unbalance, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose, exhaling through her mouth.

The sounds seemed more under her control and she found if she focused on a sound she _wanted _to hear, she could briefly isolate it from everything else around her, giving her the ability to examine it closely for something she recognized and ultimately providing her with facts about her surroundings from places too far away for her to even see. Like the nest of crow youkai roosting in the tree tops to the northeast of her. If she focused on it, she could just make out the sound of feathers rustling together, wings flapping and the occasional faint, scratchy caw that made the morning with its mists and rays of sunshine beaming on a hot spring waterfall seem surreal and otherworldly.

She focused on the sound of the water falling into the pool, coupled with the hiss of the leaves as a comfortably cool breeze whisked through the warm air. It was pleasure incarnate and while she had always appreciated such things more than the average person, with her new senses in such a naturally beautiful, serene place she couldn't help but feel like she was touching sacred ground. Walking into the water until it was up to her ankles, she reached down and brushed her fingertips across the glistening surface before bringing them back up and touching her forehead softly in reverence as her eyes gazed respectfully up to the sky. The entire gesture took only a few seconds but Sesshomaru understood its meaning. She was thanking the Kami for allowing her this moment in her life, that she would cherish the memory of this place and he was pleased at her reaction.

The sun was bright and cast a dazzling reflection on the pool's surface. She squinted her eyes to appreciate the sight as she undressed, peeling off her soiled attire and folding it up on the bank. Her muscles both ached and stung at the same time as the hot water moved up her form.

Sesshomaru watched her slowly move into the deeper parts of the pool as he undressed and moved in behind her silently. Just as she reached the point where the water met her shoulders, she took a deep breath before going under the surface.

Astonished and confused at her actions, he waited for her to resurface. His concern grew when she didn't immediately come back up and before he could think about what he was doing, he dove head first in the water to pursue her.

All his senses were dulled the instant he was submerged. He realized in this position he could not hear her, smell her or sense her as the water seemed to muddle everything. Everything but his vision. He did a full circle trying to locate her position when alarm seized his senses in the form of something gripping his ankle in a firm lock before pulling him rather forcefully deeper into the spring.

Assuming whatever had him in its grasp was obviously responsible for the disappearance of his mate, Sesshomaru whirled furious eyes to his feet, prepared to vanquish the foe as quickly as possible. What met his gaze, however, caused him to immediately soften in his course of action. His mate was grinning from ear to ear, barely able to contain her laughter. It was her hand holding his ankle and as she let go, she shot off in the opposite direction, using her arms and legs to propel herself through the water. The action reminded him of a frog swimming and he could not help his amusement at her comic actions. However, it did not take him long to see the purpose of the almost rhythmic-like movement as he found he could not match her speed when he tried to pursue her. She always stayed one step ahead no matter what he did and the barrier of liquid between them was beginning to grow irritating. He wanted his mate in his arms and he _would _have her.

Above the water, he found her still quite a distance away. She was waving to him and smiling challengingly from across the pool. The juvenile action was meant to goad him into action and goad him it did. Narrowing his eyes on her form with renewed determination, he watched with satisfaction as she gulped nervously before submerging herself with an '_eep_!' beneath the water's surface.

As soon as she'd submerged, her legs kicked furiously as her arms flailed in her attempt to dive deeper and deeper into the water, knowing without having to look that he was hot on her heels. Her heart pounded as she raced to the bottom, hoping to hide in the shadowy depths of the spring. As she turned her head over her shoulder to gauge her progress, she squealed in fright to find him right behind her.

_'Hide, hide, hide!' _Her mind chanted like a mantra, the only option of escape from the dangerous demon, though she knew he would never hurt her. The thrill of the chase was just too much fun to resist and she had a feeling that like all dogs, Sesshomaru loved to play.

Sesshomaru reached out, he was almost there. Another second, another inch. He reached out with both arms to lock them around her waist. Just as he thought he had won, his arms closed over empty water. Blinking in confusion, he halted, staring at her with wide eyes.

Kagome, expecting him to catch her, turned around in confusion to be met with Sesshomaru's astonished expression. Feeling her heartstrings pluck with concern, she motioned him to follow her to the surface. Something was terribly wrong, she just knew it.

Sesshomaru caught her movements and did as she gestured. As soon as he surfaced, all he could hear was her voice chanting over and over: "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..."

Swimming over to her position, he took in her form. She was see-through, her entire body somehow comprised of water. She had merged with it during the chase, rendering her insusceptible.

"Kagome..." he began, interrupting another hysterical intonation. She slowly turned to look at him, her watery tendrils of hair fanning out around her. He found her eyes were still blue, the only coloring on her body. The sunlight glittered on her watery assets and he could not help but think her beautiful, despite the panic of her situation. "Calm down."

"Calm down?" she asked him incredulously. "I turned into water! I AM water! How am I supposed to fix this?" She'd seen something like this before on an American TV show called _'Alex Mac.'_ The poor girl had been doused in toxic waste and then been given the power to become liquid. She had never felt more sorry for that girl.

Half his mouth turned up in a soft smile and Kagome couldn't help but take comfort in the expression. "Calm down," he repeated himself. "Center yourself and think only of retaining your original form."

Kagome obeyed, closing her eyes so she could find that inner balance. She dived deep within herself to locate that delicate core and held it still. As her mind cleared, she could feel it, _sense _it. _There_. The energies of the water ran through her, replacing her blood, bone and skin with its essence. She remembered Sesshomaru's words, recalling easily the way it felt to be flesh, blood and bone and just like that, she was back to her old self. The water making up her body fell back to its home, casting ripples where it fell when flesh took its place.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked over at him smiling in thanks. He responded by wrapping his powerful arms around her tiny form, finally succeeding in his mission to capture her.

As their chests connected, she felt herself relax gratefully in his arms."That was...odd," she commented after a moment and he did nothing to suppress the small, endearing smile he wore. "Hnn..." he hummed in agreement, his claws sliding through her hair. She was so unaware of the powers she possessed that he had no doubt his time with her would never serve to be less than entertaining.

Idly, he wondered what _other _elements she could change into, even as he handed her his own white horai to wear, the ends falling past her knees and he hummed his amusement and approval at the sight she made dressed in his attire, smiling serenely.

Kagome broke his gaze only to gaze back up in wonder at the waterfall and the mountain it fell from. Her eyes roamed up and up and up, searching for the top. Where her old vision would have failed, her new eyes pin pointed the cave they had come down from high, high up above them. It was perfect.

"Sesshomaru! Our cave, it's just what we need! For the.." her eyes checked their surroundings in a quick scan before whispering, "..._plan_!"

His eyes widened slightly with understanding.

"We need to get back to the others."

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	30. Kagura's Wind

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha_

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"Why are we still sitting around this _dump_!" Inuyasha exclaimed over tea the next day. "We should be going after Naraku and collecting shards! Every minute we waste sitting around doing nothing, he gets stronger! Haven't any of you realized that?"

Kagome and Sesshomaru had yet to return and the morning was slowly growing into the day. It was understood by everyone that this fact was the true cause of the hanyou's upset.

The majority of the tachi were more than capable of brushing off his bristling. Sango and Miroku were well worn on this sort of behavior, the children were ignorantly oblivious as they, too, had witnessed more than one of his frequent outbursts while Midoriko and Totosai were well along in their years enough to find his actions only mildly entertaining and both gazed at him with amusement in their eyes as if they were watching a squabbling toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

So things continued as usual as the hanyou's only response was that of an indifferent silence as everyone else carried on about their business. All but a pair of lavender eyes flecked with amber, which narrowed sharply on the hanyou in question at his sudden outburst.

Kaede felt her dainty, deadly claws lengthen in agitation. The sooner Inuyasha got it through his thick head that he wasn't the only one that wanted Naraku dead, the sooner they could work together. "Quit your barking, Inuyasha, they'll be along shortly."

"Keh," he scoffed, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. "Don't remember asking you a question, hag."

At this, Kaede's eyes grew wide with fury as she flung her tea cup to the side, pushing past Totosai's hands as they settled on her shoulders to calm her and rose. "Why you insolent, whiny, little brat! I'll teach you a thing or two about minding your elders-"

She wrenched free of Totosai's grip and went marching towards Inuyasha, who moved towards her just as quickly with Midoriko close on his heels. Just as the two were coming in range of each other, Totosai grabbed Kaede around the waist and flung her, kicking and screaming, over his shoulder as he walked the opposite direction. At the same time, Midoriko caught Inuyasha's ear in her hand and soon he was walking in a kneeling position on his haunches with a look of agony etched across his face, willingly moving in whichever direction she chose by pulling his ear until he was back in his seat at the fire in her own effortless version of 'sit.'

The remaining witnesses were sent into peels of laughter the moment Totosai slung Kaede over his shoulder.

Sango tried to hide her laughter in the indigo robes of the monk at her side as Inuyasha was taken by the ear and forced to sit back down by Midoriko, who remained the epitome of calm politeness. She reeled in the sound of her brother's laughter beside her and peeked her eyes open to spy an honest, open smile across his face. Her heart surged with warmth at the sight and spilled over the top when she felt Miroku's beaded hand settle around her waist as he squeezed her a little closer. His chest rumbled as he chuckled against her and she decided she loved the sound.

Shippo and Rin were both a ball of hysterics and even Kilala and Ah-Un seemed amused at the sight of Inuyasha and Kaede, both red faced with their exertion, being subdued nearly effortlessly by Midoriko and Totosai.

"Now, now, Inuyasha, down boy, be a good pup, won't you?" Midoriko was cooing as she finally released her hold on Inuyasha as he reluctantly submitted and Totosai sat Kaede back in her original seat and sat down beside her, keeping a firm hold of one lilac-silver braid, just in case.

The laughter died down and several occupants reclaimed their tea cups. An awkward silence settled where Kaede and Inuyasha glared at each other contemptuously and Miroku continued to snicker occasionally at the absurdity of it all.

It was then that, mercifully for Totosai and Midoriko, Kagome and Sesshomaru descended from the sky. Although, when it became clear that Kagome was dressed in nothing but Sesshomaru's horai, everyone sucked in a collective breath to wait for Inuyasha's reaction.

His face was carefully void of emotion as he took a deep breath and let it out, schooling his features to be casual despite his feelings. _'Kaede is right, don't make this about yourself.' _

Looking at them both, he was surprised to find himself...happy for them. Kagome looked relaxed and had somehow gotten that glow back overnight, that optimistic dreamy look she used to have before...well. And his brother, never had he seen such a drastic change in expression. Come to think of it, he didn't think he'd ever seen him with _any _expression!

Somehow there was no jealousy or pain. The loss was still there and he was aware of it but it was as if they both felt relieved to have their relationship clarified as platonic. Like, they both only hung on to each other for as long as they did because they didn't want to loose what they had as _friends_.

Wheeling around, Inuyasha scooped up the leather straps to her bag and strode over without a word, handing it to her.

Kagome was immediately grateful, as she very much wanted to change and brush her hair. She shouldered the necessity with a practiced ease. "Thank you, Inuyasha," flashing him a smile before turning into the woods to change.

Sesshomaru continued to stare at his younger brother with a look of challenge and Inuyasha had the temerity to look subdued by his gaze with the tell-tale flattening of his ears and hunching of his shoulders, which meant he submitted to his brother's claim on the female by Inu standards.

Satisfied with this response, the Western Lord relaxed considerably, just in time for his ward to crash head long into his knees.

"MY LORD! I'm so glad you have returned!" A bouquet of weeds was promptly shoved into his face.

"They're lovely, Rin," he complimented as he gently pushed the strongly-smelling things away from his sensitive nose. Of course she was not daunted in the slightest. He patted her head, suppressing a smirk at her toothy grin and watched as she ran off with the kit. Ah-Un grazed nearby, one head always keeping an eye on her location and he nodded his approval before turning his attention back to the others...

...who were all staring at him and smiling in a way that disturbed him. He ignored them, focusing instead on the faint sound of footsteps approaching that signaled his mate's return. He did not like her being away from him so soon after their coupling. The urge to drag her into seclusion rose again and he subdued it with all the discipline he had at his disposal. He would have to tolerate her continued association with everyone until Naraku was vanquished and she had transformed. Then and only then could they complete the mating and he could lock her in his bedchamber for the next season and have her all to himself.

She emerged from the trees, her hair piled in a high pony tail with long bangs that framed her face and fell to her navel. It make her pointed ears far more evident and he decided immediately that he liked the look on her. A dark blue, cotten tank top was thin and comfortable, clinging to her pale skin. A tiered, earthy brown gypsy skirt fell to her ankles while her feet were tipped with the daintiest pair of ballerina style flats.

Sesshomaru was always surprised by her choice of attire but in this, he greatly approved.

_'Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.'_

His heartbeat sounded deep within herself. She felt her eyes look up. They fell into his gaze, snared, like a fly in a web, only she did not struggle or fight or indeed, even put up any resistance at all. The intensity there as one single glance down and back up her body which took no longer than a split second and yet had rendered her blushing and speechless left her wondering how it was that such a small gesture could convey to her _exactly _what he approved of so greatly?

Focusing her thoughts to the task at hand, she caught her grand-mother's gaze significantly. Clearing her throat, she veered the conversation to the next step of their plan.

"We found a cave."

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Kagura blinked against the blurry haze of her vision. Light and objects collided and distorted, making it impossible to discern anything legible. It was when she tried to rub her eyes that she discovered her hands were bound in front of her with a coarse rope. Her wrists were raw.

As she began to struggle against her bonds, the slimy liquid she was in sloshed around her. It was cold and wet. _She _was cold and wet.

Her memory was as foggy as her vision. The first thing that finally swam into her sight was her engorged belly. Not only was she pregnant but she was full term. She could feel it moving inside her. It was strong.

"M-Master?" she called tentatively, her voice cracking against her need for water. His dark form was suddenly there at the foot of the stone tub she was lying naked in with her hands bound in front of her. A set of blood red eyes could just make out his face and his soft voice was quiet and still, soothing her fear.

"Kagura. It is almost time."

They were outside, she suddenly realized. There were the stars just above her. She could see them if she craned her neck. And the moon, she could just barely see its sickle there in the sky. She let her eyes fall into its pale light and was comforted.

Kanna padded softly up to the stone tub that contained her sister, the Wind Witch. The urn she carried was heavy so she simply moved at a very slow and careful pace, her expression never wavering from that of a blank doll.

Kagura did not even stir as she silently emptied the last urn's herb-infused, slimy contents into the tub. She did it as slowly as possible, savoring the time, her soulless eyes fixed on the pale body of her sister's swollen belly, her uncharacteristically blank and pale face as she stared up at the moon. This would be the last time they saw each other.

The urn was empty. It was time to go. She turned and only paused when a pale hand suddenly shot out of the tub to grab hold of her wrist. Her fingers were cold and clammy as they tightened over Kanna's small bones and forced her tiny form nearly into the tub with her until she was bent over it, their faces almost touching. Kanna did not even blink.

Without leaving her eyes, her small hand was taken and a weight was pressed against it and the next thing she knew, Kanna was staring at Kagura's fan. She opened it slowly, carefully, with both hands, admiring the feel of silk across her palms and being careful of the bladed tips.

Naraku paid them no heed but she did not try his patience by lingering. Like a ghost, she glided away from them back to the castle. She paused once as her sister's screams filled the night air before fading into the mists.

He was reading from that damnable book. The one that witch had used to resurrect Kikyo.

Her stomach writhed unnaturally and she screamed as she felt it stretching her skin painfully and rapidly, as her body sought to contain it. His calm, deep voice slid over her like oil as he chanted and the liquid around her glowed a bright green. Her screams died in her throat as she felt herself become paralyzed and numb.

She watched in a detached sort of way, feeling nothing but the sheer horror unfolding before her eyes as her stomach swelled and swelled until it seemed to her that it could have contained an entire person, one that had roughly her own body type.

She did not noticed the wind called to her aide in her distress. Did not even notice that her Master fought to retain his ground where he waited nearby in a barrier. She never saw the way the ground all around them was destroyed or the crater that was created around her, with only her position unaffected. She did not see the leaves and grass torn from the tree branches and the ground make a barrier around her, threatening to incinerate anything that came close.

No, she did not see. But she felt it when her adult-baby kicked on instinct and her body simply split at the seams. A rushing sensation, like an intense release of pressure as her life's blood filled the tub at a rapid rate and Kagura the Wind Witch knew no more.

The night held its breath, causing the leaves and grass to fall silently to the ground. They formed a perfect circle around her pale form.

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	31. It Begins

The summer heat was almost entirely faded from the twilight air, a dull grey falling to shadow. The once bright-green life of spring had darkened into a rich, hunter green, the occasional leaf just beginning to turn brown at the tips.

It was colder this evening by far than any other day of their current season, Shippo was sure. His form appeared as a small streak of orange as he sprinted through the trees in the silent way Inuyasha had trained him to, his green eyes squinting into the darkness to catch any prey ignorant to his advances.

He still couldn't quite believe that dinner had been left up to him. The others of the pack were all too engrossed in planning and training and preparing...

Kagome had sectioned them off into teams. She, Midoriko, Kaede and Miroku were team "ranged." She explained the name was chosen according to what placement you hold on the battlefield. Since everyone on team ranged would be launching their attacks from a distance, that's the name they were given.

Totosai, Inuyasha, Sango and Sesshomaru were part of the 'melee' team which Kagome explained basically meant their attacks were generally close enough to be considered 'hand to hand.'

When he asked what team he, Kohaku and Jaken were on, Kagome had told him they were to be team 'village.' Their job was to protect the village of Edo and Rin from attack while they were gone.

It was hard for him to accept but he hadn't argued or whined, wanting to appear strong. Instead, he forced himself to realize the sense of this decision. They simply couldn't have it come down to this important moment only to loose everything because one of them got captured.

He would have been happy to join in the battle against Naraku but he understood the importance of keeping Rin safe. Naraku had already used her as a way of manipulating Sesshomaru before and now she be could be used against them all, their compassion being so great.

Once they had explained the plan to them, everyone else split off into their teams and brainstormed or trained. The melee team spent most of their time sparring while the ranged team practiced the double barrier with Miroku and Kagome holding the inner holy one with Kaede and Midoriko holding the demonic.

Shippo had finally decided that they were far too engrossed in their work to remember that there were fifteen mouths to feed so he had taken the task on himself, hoping to prove himself useful for once. Rin had volunteered to get things ready to cook upon his return when he announced he intended to hunt, her knowledge of Kagome's supplies and years spent fending for herself while traveling with Sesshomaru proving to be very useful to his plan since he didn't know the first thing about actually cooking the meat. As a demon, he preferred to take his meals raw but the humans in their pack had to have another option. He was very grateful to Rin for her assistance in that regard.

He tried not to let the fact that he wasn't going to be fighting after all this time bother him but inwardly he was still struggling with the decision, even though he did not deny it was the right one.

Kohaku was going to be staying as well, along with Jaken and Ah-Un, a fact which brought to mind once again the slayer's reaction to being told he was staying behind.

It surprised Shippo that he had not voiced a protest because he knew Kohaku well enough to know how angry he was with the vile hanyou for everything he had done to him in the past and for all the things he had _made _him do. He wanted revenge; to think so was natural, Shippo knew first-hand. His own father had been killed and made into a pelt and he remembered clearly that thirst for revenge and the lack of self preservation that came with it.

Before Inuyasha had avenged his father by killing the Thunder Brothers, he distinctly remembered not caring whether or not he was caught and killed, only that he acted. And the list of reasons Kohaku had to loathe this enemy were well beyond any he had against the Thunder Brothers, not just for their murdering his innocent father but for the defiling of his corpse. That was really saying something.

So when Kohaku remained silent, simply nodding his head complacently with a blank expression when told he was assigned to team village, Shippo got an uneasy feeling.

Knowing that if Kohaku did have some plan to get involved in the battle against his sister's wishes would mean that it would be his job to intervene, he decided he did not like the position it would put him in to go against such a skilled fighter. While there was no doubt that Kohaku would never really hurt him, he was not sure he could really offer up any credible resistance with any of the kitsune magic he knew. Which meant he would have to think of something different.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't sense the wolf pack closing in on him until they were lunging to attack.

Shippo jumped swiftly backwards, lunging off the ground with all the power his legs could muster into the air as the wolves just barely collided into each other instead of his body. He was just a hair too slow, though, as his foot was caught mid leap by one lucky set of jaws, who immediately clamped down with a sickening crack.

He let out an involuntary whine at the pain but managed to pull his spinning top out in good timing. It grew to an enormous size, causing the wolf latched onto his paw to release him as it spun faster and faster, garnishing a wind gush that was pulling any wolf not already under its tip towards the edges and effectively putting some well-needed space between the fox kit and the pack.

Fortunately for Shippo, it was just a pack of regular wolves. Had they been demonic his illusion would have been worthless within seconds. He transformed to float over the tree tops, ignoring the throbbing of his broken paw.

He was tired and in pain now, his first hunt on his own was turning out to be a devastating disappointment. He hadn't found anything edible to harvest and he hadn't spotted any kind of prey to kill and he'd been at it for hours. His luck was just awful.

He tried not to let it dampen his spirits but the increasing pain he was feeling made things even more difficult. He was just about to turn around and head back empty handed when a flash of bright red caught his eye and he lowered himself down to the forest floor once more, well enough away from the wolves now to be safe.

A toothy grin adorned his face as he hastily gathered the edible mushrooms he'd discovered. Their bright red spots seemed to smile up at him merrily and he delighted in the fact that he did not have to transform to gather them, thus leaving him the convenience of not having to put weight on his wounded paw but hovered over the patch easily.

Imagine his luck, these were his favorite type! It was a bit odd to find them growing so late in the season but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

A loud screech almost scared him half to death as a large boar bolted through the clearing. He almost let it get it away but turned swiftly just in time to launch a foxfire attack that momentarily paralyzed its victim, leaving him to perform the kill quickly.

He thought he'd seen a hue of green coming off the beast in his peripheral but once his foxfire had consumed the body he was sure it had just been his imagination. Besides, there was no way he was going to feed 15 demons and humans comfortably off just rice and mushrooms, he knew.

The bone dagger that Inuyasha had helped him make from the bones of the first stag they killed together was pulled from an inner pocket in his horai. With a swift swiping motion, he had cut the boar's throat and allowed it to bleed out before picking it up with the mushrooms and heading back, priding himself that he hadn't hesitated this time in killing the animal. That had been a hard lesson and Inuyasha had made him kill many a stag, pig, bird and rabbit before he learned the importance of not prolonging the creature's panic and suffering. The more humane thing to do was to end it quickly.

* * *

Inuyasha was in the middle of a heated match against Sango, Sesshomaru and Totosai, who all had the convenience of flying mounts that wielded fire against him. A dragon, a fire cat and three-eyed bull spit fire down from the sky that he dodged carefully. When he wasn't dodging he spent his time deflecting attacks from Hiraikotsu, Totosai's hammer and Sesshomaru's Tokijin, as Bakusaiga was finally declared an unfair advantage given the addition of flying mounts.

When he caught the faint sound of a high-pitched squeal of pain off in the distant forest, his older brother seized the opportunity to unleash a Dragon Strike, sending his body barreling into the air through blue streaks of lightening to land on the ground near the treeline, his robe of the Firerat singed and smoking from the onslaught but his body intact. Sesshomaru had purposefully lessened the blow to not be deadly but he hadn't stopped it from causing him a fair amount of pain.

Apparently this was cause enough for a break in their training as Sango and Totosai landed and headed off towards camp, presumably to get water.

Inuyasha huffed and scowled at the approaching culprit who descended from the sky on his two-headed dragon to hover just over his head, not even one strand of silver hair out of place.

"Too slow, little brother," he taunted coolly, his expression almost bored.

Inuyasha looked away from him, pointedly ignoring the barb, his eyes narrowed toward the direction he'd heard the sound. "Keh, the runt is in trouble, it distracted me, otherwise I never would have let you get that close."

"What concern," Sesshomaru mocked but when the hanyou did not take the bait in favor of continuing to stare, a look of slight worry on his face, the taiyoukai raised a brow in surprise.

"You surprise me, Inuyasha. Your concern for your pack-mate is a true mark of honor."

Inuyasha's jaw fell open in shock. Had his older brother just _complimented _him?

Sesshomaru's brow raised even further. "However," he continued dryly, "you worry over-much. The pup is nearly two seasons over due for his first hunt already. You've taught him well enough. Do you not trust in his abilities?"

Inuyasha sighed, considering. "Kagome made me wait. I knew it was wrong but she wouldn't see reason and I couldn't bring myself to go against her. It's not that I don't trust in his abilities, just that there could be anything out there, demons, Naraku-"

"-and you choose to run to his aide, thus shaming him in his first act as an elder and risking the further delay of his necessary growth without first ascertaining with the senses gifted you by the blood in your veins whether or not he is truly in harm's way?" Sesshomaru interjected, watching as a light clicked on in his brother's head. _Finally_.

Sesshomaru had guessed at the plan for the fox kit when Inuyasha had asked him earlier not to bring up hunting that evening. He had then had the same talk with Miroku, Kohaku, Totosai and Sango.

It was an ancient pack tradition, known by instinct alone, perhaps something the kit was not even aware of possessing yet. The male coming of age would provide sustenance for his pack by his own will. The choice to hunt for them alone and unaided, risking injury and death for the sake of their combined well being, was one that only he could make. Fulfilling it would mean the next step in the aging process.

It also mean the kit would grow spontaneously after consuming the meal. This particular kitsune had retained his child form for far too long as it was due to Inuyasha failing to properly explain the importance of this lesson to Kagome.

Inuyasha stretched his senses out, scanning the life contained in the radius he emitted for the one he was looking for. Pinpointing his location, he scented the air, catching a small hint of his blood. His eyes opened wide in astonishment.

"He's bleeding," he said and was caught by an arm across his chest as his brother held him in place when he tried to sprint off after him.

"But he is no longer in danger and is already on his way back," Sesshomaru consoled him with the information his brother lacked the power to attain from their distance, or rather, the patience.

* * *

Once team ranged had their barrier plan down pat, they decided to break off into pairs. Kaede and Kagome partnered up so that the elder Godai could teach her sister a few tricks when it came to invoking and sustaining an elemental form.

Within a few hours, they were switching easily between earth, wind and water. Fire was the one Kagome had the most trouble with. Despite all her concentration and the ease of which she had mastered the other elements, it frustrated her that she could not even begin to turn even her hands into flame, much less the higher standard of lightening.

Kaede stayed in her fire form, the outline of her legs, waist and breasts a bright flame. Her face was just barely discernible as she tried to orally walk Kagome through how it felt to conjure the fire.

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong. Look, it's not flowing and cool like water, or swift and furious like wind and it isn't unyielding like earth. You have to to think aggressive, passionate, consuming. It's very intense so fill yourself with that. Now, try again..."

Meanwhile, Miroku and Midoriko sat off to the side of Kaede and Kagome by the fire, Miroku's beaded palm held in Midoriko's hand.

"Ahhh, I can sense it. A twinge of poison is still left over from the miasma you keep swallowing in Naraku's nasty little hornets. I'll walk Kagome through how to purify that later this evening, I'm sure she would be able to handle it with a little coaching..."

Rin stirred the pot of nearly-finished rice over the fire, adding spices from Kagome's pack here and there for flavor. She prepared a skillet filled with soy sauce and set it in the coals of the fire to heat.

Kohaku supervised the cooking, having assisted earlier in the procuring of firewood and hauling water from the river for tea and boiling the rice. Now, he sat idly watching Rin bustle around the fire as he sharpened his scythe with a wet stone.

Shippo arrived at camp with a slight limp and a broad grin with fresh mushrooms and a cleaned, beheaded, skinned and gutted boar, the meat finely shredded into strips with his claws and cleaned.

Rin happily added it to the skillet and sauteed the meat until it was tender in the soy sauce, adding portion after portion into the large, simmering pot until the entire boar had been cooked before mincing the mushrooms with some garlic and adding them.

Once finished, she poured the remaining broth from the mushrooms, soy sauce, garlic and pork into the stew for flavor, covered the top with a heavy lid and then had Kohaku pull it from the fire to cool as she set a new pot of water over the fire to heat for tea.

Kohaku set to the task of bringing everyone around for dinner while Shippo saw to his injured paw, just happy that he had succeeded in providing for his pack despite the pain.

The others joined them, everyone singing praises to Shippo for his first successful hunt, who blushed embarrassed at the attention and to Rin, who had done a marvelous job of cooking for everyone.

The pack chatted comfortably with each other as they ate and sipped their tea. Kagome was just about to take her first bite of the now-cooled stew when she noticed Shippo gripping his ankle a little too tightly and not eating. Her brow furrowed as she realized he was must have been injured during the hunt.

She was surprised he had not said anything. It was hard for her to imagine her kit being wounded without him running to her to be coddled. Was he growing up so fast? Even still, she couldn't stand to see him suffer. She sat her chopsticks and bowl aside and abandoned her tea to retrieve her first aid kit and kneel at his side.

Sesshomaru eyed this transaction carefully, noting with pride that his intended's concern for her pack and kit was prized above her own well-being. He knew with her growing powers and the training they were involved in for the last few weeks left her famished and weak for food and yet she set aside her own meal so easily in favor of tending to the kit's injuries.

Without even realizing it, she was instinctively aiding and protecting the kit's growth progress. By tending to his wounds and thus eliminating the pain, she was ensuring that the kit partake in the meal that would help him to grow. It was an instinct only the alpha female of a pack possessed.

Kagome suppressed the urge to flinch as she realized the sick angle Shippo's foot was at would mean she would have to reset the bone in order for his demonic healing properties to patch him up. It was going to hurt him alot. And it was going to hurt her, too.

She opted for the easier approach. Fishing through her first aid kit once more, she found the bottle marked "Hydro-codeine" and fished a pink pill out of the container in her hand. She then broke it in half since she wasn't sure how Shippo's demonic nervous system would respond to a foreign drug, then crushed it into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.

Gathering the powder into her hand, she ordered her kit to open wide. He complied and she emptied the bitter powder into his mouth, quickly handing him a cup of tea to wash down the awful taste before he gagged.

It didn't take long for the opiate to take effect as it was in powder-form and without giving him time to be afraid, her hands seized his paw, pulled and twisted just as the fox kit's eyes began to droop.

His screech of pain made everyone wince as he whimpered a few times after the set, making a dignified effort at containing his cries of pain. Kagome shushed him comfortingly, stroking his hair as he recovered before binding the leg in an ace bandage to help with the swelling, the restriction also helping with the pain.

Nearly an hour later she returned to her now-cold meal, the medicine from the opiate and a full belly having knocked the kit clean out. He snored loudly from his palate as the rest of the pack having finished eating trickled in and out of camp performing their nightly ablutions.

Kagome sighed as she relaxed next to Sesshomaru, stirring her meal to bring some warmth back to it and tucked in gratefully.

She was on her fifth bite when it happened. A sharp pain in her gut, along with a burning sensation down her throat. She coughed and sputtered as her windpipe squeezed shut involuntarily, causing her to fall to the ground gasping like a fish, her dish crashing and breaking with a clatter.

Sesshomaru's senses reeled with alarm as he and everyone else gathered around her, trying to ascertain what was happening. He could sense a dark magic at work and tried to follow its trace but could not find a trail outside of Kagome, herself. Her face was beginning to turn blue, her expression panicked, sending ice through his veins.

Midoriko pushed her bangs back and leaned down to her face. "Listen to me, Kagome-child, you are stronger than this! Fight it! Fight _back_!" she snarled the last, baring her fangs in her grand daughter's face.

Kagome felt as her lungs struggled for air and tried to fight the urge to panic. Her senses screamed at the foreign, yet familiar magic at work on her body and she knew even as she lay there, sprawled out and helpless on the grass that the food had been spelled to activate a summoning curse as soon as it touched her signature.

Well, she wasn't surprised. It was about time, actually and all she had to do now was fight off the killing part, which she was sure Naraku expected her to defeat.

Midoriko screamed at her to fight and when she realized her hearing and sight were beginning to fade, she released her power from her core with a single concentrated pulse.

She gasped for air, grateful for the release of pressure on her windpipe as her form began to line with dark purple.

Sesshomaru snarled as he recognized what would come next just when he thought it was over, lunging to pin his mate's shoulders to the ground but he only just missed her. His fists were repelled forcefully by the purple barrier that was obviously Naraku's and he was forced to watch as it lifted Kagome's paralyzed body into the air and sped off into the night sky.

* * *

**AN: Reviews are my fuel :)**


	32. Hoshi no Tama

The tachi stood shocked and quiet in the seconds following Kagome's abduction. The silence stretched out for an indeterminable amount of time, be it seconds, minutes or hours pressing invisible fingers into the hearts of everyone present, all eyes turned to the sky as their minds tried to absorb what had just happened.

A dark aura was growing on the horizon of the now-darkened sky. Screeches and distant growls could be heard, the sign of a familiar hoard of lesser demons barreling their way to deter them from their goal. The mass of their bodies stood like a black cloud, more than they had ever seen and the ground trembled beneath their feet in warning, as if the earth itself was trying to scream out their arrival.

And then it was like there was a sudden release of pressure, as if those scant moments spent standing there gaping had now come to demand their payment in the form of a need for intense action.

This crack in pressure began when Inuyasha took a precautionary step backwards, signalling the rest of the tachi with him, as a fierce growl sounded from Sesshomaru, deep and guttural, his eyes suddenly bleeding scarlet. The sound from his chest seemed to pierce the ground down to the bed rock and back up to the surface again, the very air constricting to absorb it.

His intended had been taken and the beast within was furious with this turn of events. For once in his long life, Sesshomaru was happy to let him take over.

His jaw elongated into a feral, unnatural grin, teeth engorging, green lightening cracking and snapping around his form while the wind picked up in his rage, carrying ribbons of his long white hair with it to fly all around him.

Something primal and ancient, a part of him deeply rooted within his bones and soul, cried out at the loss of his intended. The rage and desire he felt to protect was unlike anything he'd ever felt. And she had been taken from him so easily.

This was the final thought it took to summon the last phase of his transformation. Ruby eyes locked onto the sky as his body was lined with blood red light before his pupils dialed back, completely surrendering to the red.

"Get back!" Midoriko called hastily to the others who were struck dumb by the sight as the taiyoukai began to transform.

The earth trembled beneath their feet again as a massive dog demon stepped down onto the ground, throwing his head back to snarl at the open sky and revealing a set of massive jaws filled with sharp fangs. The sound echoed across the sky like thunder.

His hind legs pushed him into the air in an attempt to track the scent his mate had left behind but his jaunt was obstructed by a sudden onslaught of lesser demons, all bearing Naraku's vile scent. The final battle had begun.

He tore through them without hesitation, his massive jaws working to crush bone and flesh alike, ignoring the putrid stench it left on his tongue.

Midoriko flew past him on her cloud, clearing a path for him, the light leaving the sky in her wake as a black storm grew rapidly to the direction in the distance she had her eyes pinned to. A flick of her wrist and a hundred lightening bolts struck the herd, incinerating all in the front line and hitting the ground with a cacophonous crash. Still, more came, a wall of infinite numbers.

Wave after wave they came, long after the ground was soaked in blood and twitching appendages.

Totosai hovered beneath Sesshomaru and Midoriko in the air with Sango, Ki-la-la and Miroku as they handled anything on the ground running.

Kaede, still on the ground, turned the opposite direction, sprinting past Inuyasha as he brandished Tetsusaiga and made to catch up with the others.

"Shippo-kun! We have to leave! Shippo-kun, let's _go_!" Rin cried next to him, her little fists pulling futilely at his robes, trying to make him stand, but the fox kit continued to stare after the spot in the sky where his surrogate mother had disappeared from as if in shock.

The crash from her dish had woken him and since that moment he had not been able to move. His brain seemed to be in a loop, trying to absorb what had just happened.

Kohaku stood silently next to them in a defensive position next to Ah-Un, his scythe in one hand and his eyes trained on the sky for any oncoming attack.

Kaede knelt down next to the kit, taking his hand gently in her's, nearly flinching at the building and frantic energy around his person. His kitsune magic was like a wild storm caught up in his emotions and along with the meal he had eaten earlier, it was causing a tumult of demonic jaki to nearly spiral out of control. She sent a pulse of her familiar aura to him, letting him know she was pack.

"Shippo-kun? It's time to leave now. Team village, remember?"

His green eyes did not move, nor did his face give any indication he had heard.

"M-mother," he whispered as a single tear slid down his face, his lips trembling.

First, he'd lost his mother. Then, his father. He'd been so scared and lonely. Abandoned to live on his own until Kagome had come along and scooped him up off the ground, held him to her breast and promised to always protect him.

He hadn't forgotten all the other adults that had turned him away or pretended not to notice him. There were other kitsune clans, even, that knew his father and refused to take him in for fear of angering the Thunder Brothers. Humans and demons alike, no one wanted him. She'd taken him into her heart as her own from the moment she laid eyes on him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if it should go without saying.

Kagome had been there for him when he was sick, when he was hurt, when he was sad. She fed him, bathed him, took care of him. She always believed in him even when she had no reason to. She was always proud and always loved him even though he had never done anything to deserve it. She taught him how to love and trust others, how to be there for them when you needed to be, she taught him what it truly meant to be brave, to do the right thing, even if you're scared...

Last night he thought he'd finally proved himself. But all he did was put his mother in danger. He handed her over to the enemy because he hadn't paid closer attention! The green light around the boar, the out-of-season mushrooms, it all made sense now that he looked back on it but he'd been so desperate to prove himself that he hadn't second-guessed it even for a moment.

The one thing he had to be proud, the one achievement he had in his whole life could end up being the cause of her death.

Kaede's golden eyes widened for a moment hearing Shippo address her sister in such a manner for the first time. She'd known the kit was fond of her younger sister but never had she guessed he might view her in such a paternal way.

"It's-it's my fault," he whispered, finishing the sentence in an abnormally low octave as his eyes widened in horror at the realization, the tears flowing steadily now. "The mushrooms...the boar...it's _my fault_. Mother! What have I done? _What have I done_?!"

He screamed the last, growling on the last word and clenching his teeth together as he balled his fists so hard at his sides his claws punctured the palms of his hands. Kaede watched as his fangs elongated dangerously past his lips and there was a sudden heavy pulse of jaki around his person.

"Shippo-kun..." Rin whispered softly, clenching the reins of Ah-Un to steady him against the excitement as she watched her friend beginning to change.

_'You picked a hell of a time, kit'_ Kaede thought to herself sarcastically, thinking of the stew Kagome had practically force-fed him the night before after drugging him and resetting his broken paw. His first hunt. Of course.

"Rin, Kohaku, take Ah-Un and get to the village," Kaede ordered them without looking away from Shippo. When they failed to act she looked sharply at Kohaku, who flinched at her intense expression and her bared fangs.  
"_Now_!"

As the two-headed dragon sped off into the sky towards Edo, Shippo began to growl low in his throat, the sound building in intensity as Kaede stepped back warily.

The jaki pulsed again, even heavier this time, while his fists unclenched to reveal a much longer set of claws. He opened his arms to stare up at the sky, howling his rage and grief at the loss of his mother, brandishing a set of large canines. The wail began in one octave but quickly lowered to a much deeper, unrecognizable one. As the jaki pulsed again, he grew a foot taller with every heart beat, and then another, and another as a dark green light began to swirl around his body, finally blocking him entirely from view.

Kaede stood up straight and confident as the bubble of green light died down, revealing a teenage Shippo almost a foot taller than Kohaku, his shoulders broad and his arms muscled. His hair had darkened to a deep, burgundy red, still piled in a rather messy ponytail at the top of his head but now spilling down his back. His legs were no longer fox legs but human, no sign of his earlier injury, while the tatters of his previous clothes hung just barely covering the essentials.

He now sported not one but three tails streaked with dark red, brown and bright red stripes which flicked impatiently back and forth behind him and around his neck hung a large, round, white jewel that Kaede recognized instantly as his Hoshi no Tama, or 'Star ball.' It flickered with green and blue flames, containing the overflow of Foxfire from the new surplus he had attained. It was like a reserve shell which he could draw upon at will.

His eyes glowed a bright, neon green like his foxfire, which told Kaede his beast was in control. He had hit his growth spurt _and _released his inner jaki all in the same moment.

His expression was dark and full of fury as he panted for breath in front of her.

Kaede nodded to him once, her face carefully void of all emotion and moved fluidly forward, pulling a dagger from her obi. It was made entirely from jade, the blade serrated and jagged but sharp while the handle was carved into the shape of green flames, like foxfire.

She held it out to him, her amber eyes boring into his green ones and when he looked back at her he could see clearly, despite the control of his beast, that her rage, her rampant desire for retribution, mirrored his own. In this way, he knew her as pack.

"Our pack mother has been taken," she informed him coldly and simply to better appeal to his beast's nature.

Shippo's beast signaled its understanding with a snarl of contempt.

"Take this dagger and deliver our revenge."

His claws snatched out to take the knife in a swift and calculated move without even grazing her palm. In a blur of red and green, he was gone.

Kaede released the breath she'd been holding once he was gone. Kagome was going to kill her for setting him loose but what choice did she have? The growth spurt they'd been expecting but triggering his jaki, that wasn't supposed to come for at least another season. The emotional upheaval following the intake of his first hunt had obviously made his inner beast think there was a definitive need to speed things up. It was rare but it happened sometimes when the situation was dire enough.

She would just have to keep an eye on the kit as the battle wore on and make sure he stayed out of trouble. Thinking of the formidable team headed Naraku's way, she grinned. The vile hanyou wouldn't know what hit him.

* * *

Kaede tailed Shippo as he ripped through lesser demons on the ground with his claws and the jade dagger. It was sloppy, violent work watching his beast slaughter one after the other but seemed to be satisfying for the once-kit. His rage was beginning to subside with every wall they tore through. She couldn't help feeling both impressed and astonished as he decapitated with no hesitation the unfortunate stragglers who managed to avoid Sesshomaru, Midoriko, Sango, Totosai, Miroku and Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga, leaving no work for her in their wake. It was almost amusing were it not for her own desire to scratch the itch she felt to get her hands dirty.

She was nothing if not patient, however, all her time masquerading as an old woman had taught her that. There would be time for her to sink her claws in, she knew, and Shippo needed this to atone for the guilt and fury he felt at Kagome being taken.

Not that she personally supported that sentiment, if anything, she knew Kagome being taken was an inevitable part of this scenario; Kagome wasn't the only one that had seen Midoriko's vision.

At this thought, the urge to press forward increased her stride and she momentarily broke past Shippo to take out a large Oni looming their way while he was tied up with some type of lizard demon who spit a nasty acid at the ground.

As the Oni's body fell to the ground dismembered, she squinted her eyes on the horizon, glancing at the flashes of light that gave away each individual's location. Her grandmother's lightening flashed every few seconds, lighting up the scene, the smell of charred demonic flesh filling the air with a foul stench. She covered her sensitive nose with the sleeve of her horai as she ran, Shippo right behind her and tried to ignore the sound of various body parts sizzling at their feet and still smoking.

The yellow light of Inuyasha's Windscar followed Midoriko's attacks at ground level every now and again, great orbs of orange light signalling her grandfather's formidable rain of fire dotted the scene, dropping balls of molten lava on the stragglers. Sesshomaru was the most obvious, his deafening roars could probably be heard on the other side of the world and there was no missing his great white mass of fur and claws and teeth from where she was off in the distance. Every time he swiped at the line of hoards there was a great booming sound as thousands were knocked to the side and cut clean in half.

A faint blue light gave away the position of Ki-la-la as Miroku threw his sutras where he could, avoiding the use of his wind tunnel as there was no doubt Naraku had thought to bring along his horrendous bees.

Inuyasha was by the far the closest of the gang and they had just caught up to him as he panted for breath right after the release of an Adamant Barrage. He was sweaty and beginning to tire but his expression was rock hard with determination. He gave a side long glance and a nod in her direction as they came to stand on either side of him, then he turned to Shippo. His jaw fell open in surprise before breaking out into a huge grin.

"Well, look who finally decided to grow up," he teased, ruffling the dark red bangs of the now-grown kitsune. Shippo gave a growl of warning but his beast recognized Inuyasha as pack so it was only half hearted. It was then Inuyasha noticed his bright green eyes and the Hoshi no Tama around his neck. He turned to Kaede with his brow risen nearly into his hairline.

"His beast came out, too?" he asked in surprise and Kaede nodded.

"In the very same moment," she clarified, her expression grim.

"Damn Naraku," he cursed, turning back to Shippo. "Well then, kit, let's get your mother back, eh?"

Shippo gave a growl of assent and the three of them sprinted off once more.

They had barely made it a few feet, however, when the scene ahead disappeared and changed around them. The others were gone with it, leaving just the three of them in a foreign landscape.

They stood in a wasteland all but for a large, black lake before them. Mist and fog obscured their vision until they stood at the water's edge, the surface as still as glass.

Shippo gave a low growl of warning, causing the other two to look up. There they found Kanna on the other side, peering at them like an emotionless doll. The mirror in her hands was dropped into the still lake, not even making a ripple, were it floated to the center face up. A bright light and then the entire lake suddenly _was_ the mirror and Inuyasha, having experienced and fought this mirror before, backed up. Shippo as well but Kaede was not fast enough. She stood frozen at the water's edge, her reflection caught in the glass.

_"Kaede!"_Inuyasha shouted as the woman fell to her knees. Inuyasha caught her around the waist and pulled her back away from the lake but it was no use; her eyes were blank and dull as the mirror sucked and pulled at her soul. The light around her body was being siphoned into the lake before them at a rapid rate and Inuyasha felt his claws lengthen in agitation.

Wasting no time, knowing the void-child would not respond to conversation, he raised Tetsusaiga to attack.

"_Windscar!" _His voice echoed across the barren landscape, flying over the lake and into Kanna. It hit a purple barrier and then was sent back at him. Inuyasha only just had time to raise Tetsusaiga while standing in front of Shippo and Kaede, the protective barrier erected only seconds before impact to protect them from the blast. The light from Kaede's soul continued to siphon into the lake.

The hanyou gave a scoff of frustration before raising his sword again. "_Adamant Barrage!"_

The diamond spears were thrown back at them again only this time Shippo, who had stepped aside after the last attack, did not benefit from Tetsusaiga's protective barrier. He was thrown back forcefully by the blow, several spears hitting home in various places, although he was lucky enough for none of them to hit vital areas. His shoulder had a gash, his cheek was now bleeding and one of his arms was bleeding freely by a grazed spear but he arose overall intact.

As Inuyasha raised his sword again for another attack, Shippo placed a hand on the blade and firmly pressed it down.

"If you do that one more time, I'll kill you myself."

Inuyasha turned with surprise to the kitsune, who was no longer controlled by his beast. His astonishment at the fox's changed state and deeper voice did not last long, however, before his anger won out yet again.

"Well what would you suggest, kit? We have to do _something_!"

"Obviously," he responded smartly and in that moment a flash of green caught Inuyasha's eye. The Hoshi no Tama had lit up with a bright, green light, which culminated into an explosion that moved across the lake towards Kanna. It erupted with streaks of light like long fingers which seeped easily through the barrier and hovered momentarily over Kanna's tiny, pale hands which continued to grip the mirror.

Inuyasha watched as the green light moved into her the tips of her fingers and disappeared. Kanna bent forward suddenly, her face screwed up in an uncharacteristic expression of severe concentration. Glancing over at Shippo's form, he found him standing very still with his eyes closed, the Tama around his neck now totally devoid of light. It was then he noticed the three tails his friend now had and he understood.

Shippo had grown into his next form and with that came new, instinctive abilities, possession being one of them. He knew that a nine-tailed fox was considered the wisest of forms a kitsune could take and the final level of the aging process.

Kanna gave a grunt of surprise, her tiny body suddenly racked with tremors. Her arms flailed, still griping the mirror in a white knuckled grip, before stilling quite suddenly a few seconds later. There was a pause and then her face broke out in a very creepy grin which made Inuyasha shudder at the sight. Shippo's mischievous expression was reflected back at him through Kanna's features. Still smiling that awkward smile, she lifted the mirror above her head before slamming it down to the ground. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces while the lake flickered uncertainly.

There was a violent lurch of the ground which sent Inuyasha and Shippo sprawling before the landscape changed again back to one they both recognized. The sounds of battle once again engulfed them, further off in the distance now. They stood amidst the remains of lesser youkai, their arms and legs littering the ground. Black pools of blood were splattered here and there, smoking and singed body parts.

Kaede coughed and sputtered beside them when her soul was swiftly returned while Inuyasha bent to examine her, patting her on the back rather forcefully. She swiped at his attempts at helping her with impatience as she tried to catch her breath.

"Get your hands off me, mutt," she cursed, refusing the hand he offered to help her up.

"Keh, won't happen again, ungrateful bitch," he spat, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

"That's more like it," Kaede grinned, "Stay in character." Inuyasha just rolled his eyes.

"Um, guys?" Shippo's voice carried over to them, causing them to look up. The sight that met them, however, left them at a loss for words.

Kanna was not only still alive but clutching her heart and looking very confused. Her hair was no longer stark white but a deep, inky black. Twin black stripes marked each of her cheeks, which were both blushing with color no one had ever seen or even thought her capable of. She was apparently no longer a child of the void but some type of adolescent demon. In fact, the only remaining features she retained of her original form was the white dress and small, white flower in her hair, now much more prominent against her black locks.

"Who are you people?" the girl asked fearfully, her eyes scanning the scene in horror, "-and where am I? What is this place? _GROSS_!" she cried at the smoking body parts all around her.

Her questions were met with shocked silence until Kaede suddenly broke it, exclaiming, "The mirror!" As if that explained everything.

Inuyasha raised a single brow in an unconscious move that was extremely reminiscent of his older brother. "Mind elaborating a little more there, genius?"

Kaede scowled but acquiesced none the less. "The mirror steals souls! Kanna was never an incarnation of Naraku, he just stole her soul with that mirror and made her apart of the Void. He probably only allowed her a tiny shard of consciousness to remain and the rest was sealed within the mirror, along with all her emotion. Smells like cat youkai, if you ask me."

Inuyasha and Shippo simultaneously sniffed the air and looked at each other before nodding their heads.

Kaede approached the girl cautiously. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Kanna," the girl answered easily. "Who is Naraku? What mirror? Where am I and who are you people?"  
She was becoming frantic, leaning warily away from Kaede.

"Where do you come from, child?" Kaede asked softly.

"The Vale, from the Kuroneko tribe," the new Kanna answered tentatively.

"The Black cat youkai tribe, that's in the East," Inuyasha supplied helpfully. "What will we do with her? We can't have her tagging along at this point, she's won't make it two feet."

"I'll take her back to Edo," Shippo offered. "That way I can keep an eye on Rin and help Kohaku protect the village until all this is over."

Kaede felt her face soften at his declaration. She knew how much it meant to him to help out in this fight and it showed a great level of maturity that he would offer what he was to protect the young Kanna and give up his place on the battlefield.

"Be careful, Shippo. Stay to the shadows and keep your head down. With any luck you'll make it before sunrise."

He grinned. "Won't take me that long," he supplied vaguely and outstretched a hand to Kanna, who was still sitting on the ground. After a moment's hesitation she took his hand and made to rise, crying out suddenly. Her hands fumbled with something in her robes as she pulled free Kagura's fan. She looked at it with confusion.

"This seems familiar to me somehow..." With a click, the fan opened, revealing the sharp blades at the end. Kanna 'eeped' in surprise when one of the edges almost nicked her. She held it out to Kaede. "You take it. I don't know what it is but maybe it will be of some use to you with...whatever you're doing," she finished uncertainly, casting a wary glance at the horizon where the battle ensued.

Kaede took it gratefully, humming with interest when the fan hit her palm. She gave it an experimental wave and laughed delightedly when a strong gust of wind followed. "Oh, this is going to _so_ much fun."

"Great," Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Something else for her to torture me with."

As if in answer, Kaede grinned before sending him sprawling with another even stronger gust of wind, laughing when he fell onto his bottom roughly. "Ha! My own version of sit!"

"On that note," Shippo mumbled, took Kanna's hand and disappeared in a flash of green light.

Kaede frowned slightly. "That kid is starting to scare me with how fast he's coming along in his abilities."

Inuyasha, who was dusting himself off, scowled at her. "Pssh, him? I've got enough trouble keeping my eyes on you. PUT IT DOWN!" he shouted as she suddenly raised the fan again in warning. "For Kami's sake, woman, we're in the biggest fight of our life, we can fight later. Can we please focus on rescuing your sister and killing Naraku for one minute?"

Kaede pouted, sticking her tongue out childishly. "Spoil sport."

They sprinted off toward the battle together, Inuyasha passing her as if to prove how fast he was. She sped up but he picked up the pace even more. It was no use trying to catch him, he was faster. Rather than admit this, she pulled the fan free and flattened him into the ground one more time, laughing as she passed him and left him in the dust in her wake.

This was going to be _so_ fun.

* * *

**_AN: Reviews are my fuel_**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha  
_**


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